Sustainable urban regeneration and Green Infrastructure (GI) implementation: competitive gains from tree planting at an economic, environmental and social level

The research is focused on the role of trees in supporting the implementation of Green Infrastructure (GI) programs. Trees can be used to create energy efficient open spaces, to better relate the architecture with the surroundings, to encourage the multi-functionality of gardens, and to combine efficient city management with unique landscape design. Planners and architects, when determining the sustainability of a project, tend to focus on the architecture itself, looking at energy efficiency, water efficiency, green materials, and other factors. However, also the environment immediately surrounding the building, i.e. the landscape, plays an important part in the sustainability of a project, and it is often overlooked. Trees belong to the GI broader family and although GI has been studied for more than four decades in all countries, it is still a relatively new EU policy instrument and there is not a significant amount of focused research around it. Until recently the benefits of trees were well known but not well defined or quantified. The research is focused on the role of trees in supporting the development of a green economy and sustainable land, water and city management. This presentation will give an overview of the state of the art, including case study and analytical tools for tree valuation recognition and will outline all aspects that should be developed to enable an effective GI progress in Europe. In particular, global competitive gains from tree planting at an economic, environmental and social level will be explored, and considerations on how multi-functionality can be integrated into methods for quantifying and valuing GI will be developed.