Green Infrastructure: Linking Landscapes and Communities

Those engaged in land conservation and management have increasingly come to envision and make use of a process that connects environmental, social and economic health: green infrastructure. For the landscape designer, conservation-minded planner and concerned citizen, this incisive work presents principles and practices to link landscapes and communities across the country.

With almost 2 million acres of farmland and half a million acres of private forestland lost to development each year, the impacts of sprawl are felt everywhere. But creating communities that both protect open land and provide homes and services for people is not impossible. Using a green infrastructure approach, community members can understand how green space adds value, in myriad ways, to land development, and then relate these findings to developing infrastructure plans. Communities can then prioritize conservation opportunities and plan development that meets the needs of both people and nature.

With illustrative and detailed examples, Green Infrastructure advances smart conservation through large-scale thinking and integrated action plans. Providing both the historical framework for the importance of greenways and green space networks, and practical advice on how to design and implement them, Benedict and McMahon’s book is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to understand innovative approaches to conservation-minded land use. From the individual parcel to the multi-state region, Green Infrastructure helps us look at the landscape in relation to the many uses it could serve for nature and people and determine which use achieves the most benefit for both.

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