Governing green infrastructure

This project is investigating how the roll-out of green infrastructure (GI) is transforming contemporary urban governance in England, focusing on trees in Greater Manchester. While the technical aspects of GI have now been widely addressed, the governance arrangements and institutional framework of GI implementation requires further research. The main aim of the research is to elucidate how GI is changing the nature of environmental governance, as a design best practice is incorporated into government policy and strategy.

This project will provide original insights into the ‘new institutional framework’ (HM Government 2011 The Natural Choice) that is emerging for and through the delivery of GI projects. This evolving framework is connecting stakeholders, sectors and policy objectives in new and surprising ways, through novel technical approaches such as natural capital accounting and landscape-scale planning. After a decade of GI strategy and planning in England, the way that urban nature is perceived, represented and managed has dramatically changed, and this project seeks to analyse the various implications and consequences.