Well-connected urban green infrastructures for more livable and resilient urban systems

The urban system's socio-ecological resilience rests on diverse infrastructures, not only on well-functioning transportation, communication, energy, drinking water, sanitary and waste treatment, health, education, sport and cultural infrastructures, but also on well distributed, connected and functioning "urban green infrastructures". In this chapter we argue that green infrastructures are essential for the overall quality of life and the very sustainability and resilience of urban socio-ecosystems and should therefore be considered as a priority in urban planning and governance. After defining the terms, we provide the reasons why it is important to take full account of this infrastructure. In a second section, we discuss the main challenges in assessing, planning, and implementing green infrastructure strategies. We conclude with some lessons learned from the literature and various examples for fully integrating green infrastructures into urban system governance, drawing from the literature and an example from the Greater Geneva.