Living Edges. Reclaiming Dynamic Interfaces Against Urban Sprawl, a Data-Informed Conceptual Framework for Adaptive Greenbelt Governance

Urban sprawl continues to intensify ecological fragmentation, carbon emissions, infrastructure inefficiencies, and socio-spatial inequalities across metropolitan regions. Greenbelts have historically functioned as regulatory containment tools designed to limit outward expansion and preserve open land; however, their later institutionalized, boundary-based regulatory logic increasingly appears misaligned with contemporary urban resilience, climate adaptation, and social inclusion challenges. While extensive literature examines urban sprawl metrics, housing impacts of containment policies, and green infrastructure planning, limited research integrates greenbelt regulation within adaptive ecological infrastructure and urban metabolism frameworks: in particular, the potential transformation of greenbelts from static zoning devices into multifunctional and performance-based spatial systems remains under-theorized and insufficiently structured from a methodological perspective. This paper introduces the concept of Greenbelt 2.0 as a data-informed conceptual framework for reframing greenbelts as adaptive ecological and social infrastructures: rather than presenting original GIS modelling or a fully implemented quantitative assessment, the study combines qualitative policy analysis of the London Green Belt with a structured indicator framework derived from secondary literature, publicly available datasets, and comparative planning references. The methodological approach integrates policy review, functional decomposition across ecological, productive, social, and governance dimensions, and conceptual performance-gap analysis. The analysis suggests that while the traditional greenbelt model remains effective in limiting direct land encroachment and preventing settlement coalescence, it appears less developed in relation to ecological connectivity management, public accessibility, governance adaptability, and metabolic integration. The proposed Greenbelt 2.0 framework identifies adaptive zoning, multifunctional landscape management, performance monitoring, and participatory governance as potential mechanisms for resilience-oriented transformation, and these elements are presented as a basis for future empirical testing rather than as completed measured outcomes. The study advances greenbelt theory beyond preservationist containment by positioning greenbelts as dynamic metropolitan interfaces that can integrate ecological resilience, productive landscapes, and spatial justice: by bridging containment planning with resilience theory, green infrastructure, and metabolic urbanism, the paper provides a structured and transferable framework for reconfiguring greenbelt governance in the context of climate-responsive and inclusive urban development.