A Green Infrastructure Planning Approach: Improving Territorial Cohesion through Urban-Rural Landscape in Vojvodina, Serbia

Abstract

Spatial and urban planning are directed towards achieving territorial cohesion as one of the sustainable development goals. Considering the hybrid concept of green infrastructure, this paper aims to provide an "ecological model" of achieving territorial cohesion in spatial and urban planning. Based on the connectivity level analysis between green infrastructure elements (green infrastructure hubs, nodes, gateways and dots), application of the GI concept guides the development of spatial planning scenarios. The application of Voronoi diagrams and landscape graph-based principles contribute to defining the shortest distances between green infrastructure elements, which resulted in the definition of the significance of structural and functional arrangement of green infrastructure dots in the matrix of the urban rural continuum in the territory of the urban-rural landscape of three case studies in Vojvodina, Serbia (Novi Sad, Subotica, Zrenjanin). As a result of this study, green infrastructure dots showed a great potential of application at the local level by developing them through landscape design with creative and artistic elements in order to achieve higher level of cohesion through visual attractivity, multifunctionality and recreation. The level of connectivity between elements of green infrastructure should be considered as an indicator of the sustainable spatial development goals achievement, in the field of nature conservation and territorial and social cohesion.