Parks and Green Infrastructure

Green infrastructure is a network of multi-functional green space and other green features, urban and rural, which can deliver quality of life and environmental benefits for communities.

Green infrastructure is not simply an alternative description for conventional open space. It includes parks, open spaces, playing fields, woodlands – and also street trees, allotments, private gardens, green roofs and walls, sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) and soils. It includes rivers, streams, canals and other water bodies, sometimes called ‘blue infrastructure’.

Green Infrastructure at the TCPA

The TCPA has been promoting the inclusion of green spaces in urban areas for over 100 years, as a core principle of the original Garden City movement. Now, the TCPA manages the Green Infrastructure Partnership, a network of over, 2000 members which shares information about the latest green infrastructure policies and project across the UK. The TCPA also works on a number of projects on green infrastructure including the EU funded PERFECT project which aims to improve green infrastructure policy across Europe by promoting the multiple benefits that green infrastructure can provide.