Optimising the green infrastructure in Belfast: An integrated assessment framework for urban green infrastructure planning

In order to identify important features of public greenspaces and user preferences, a questionnaire was conducted to derive insights into the relationship of preferred urban greenspaces in Belfast City. Important factors influencing experiences in public greenspaces are specified and integrated with landscape assessment metrics to develop a quality index, which can help differentiate the social and ecological values of public greenspaces.<br><br>Moreover, apart from the quality of greenspaces, accessibility appears to be one of the assessment of network connectivity ought to consider both proximity and quality greenspace provision.

The result identifies underserved areas and further explores the potential problems related to greenspace connections. On the other hand, community greenery is assessed by exploring positive effects of multi-scale green resources on mitigating environmental hazards. It helps to identify how different green elements enhance the quality of community living environments.

The results provide discussions, which link GI provision, Belfast City Council’s resilience strategy, and the socioeconomic status of communities.<br>These evaluation methods create the potential for a locally-based and quantifiable GI strategy to optimise and maximise the multi-functionality of GI across cities. Built upon the analysis and evaluation of different GI components, this research proposes an integrated planning framework with specific strategies regarding to different types of GI development and devises recommendations for future GI planning.<br><br><br>