Urban green infrastructure (UGI) has a key role in improving human and environmental health in cities and contributes to several services related to climate adaptation. Accurate localization and quantification of pervious surfaces and canopy cover are envisaged to implement UGI, address sustainable spatial planning, and include adaptation and mitigation strategies in urban planning practices. This study aims to propose a simple and replicable process to map pervious surfaces and canopy cover and to investigate the reliability and the potential planning uses of UGI maps. The proposed method combines the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), extracted from high-resolution airborne imagery (0.20 m), with digital elevation models to map pervious surfaces and canopy cover. The approach is tested in the Municipality of Trento, Italy, and, according to a random sampling validation, has an accuracy exceeding 80%. The paper provides a detailed map of green spaces in the urban areas, describing quantity and distribution, and proposes a synthesis map expressed as a block-level degree of pervious surfaces and canopy cover to drive urban transformations. The proposed approach constitutes a useful tool to geovisualize critical areas and to compare levels of pervious surfaces and canopy cover in the municipal area. Acknowledging the role of green areas in the urban environment, the paper examines the potential applications of the maps in the policy cycle, such as land use management and monitoring, and in climate-related practices, and discusses their integration into the current planning tools to shift towards performative rather than prescriptive planning.
La transición energética y el paisaje se consideran a menudo contrapuestos, debido a las transformaciones sobre los paisajes cotidianos que se acometen para alcanzar los objetivos energéticos. El paisaje, entendido como relación profunda entre las personas y su medio, debe ser una cuestión clave a tener en cuenta durante la transición energética, ya que los cambios físicos y perceptivos operados, en casos de saturación, pueden provocar rechazo social. Una consideración integral del paisaje contribuye a que se consideren los intereses de los diferentes agentes locales y de la ciudadanía en los procesos de toma de decisiones. En el marco del proyecto de investigación H2020 PEARLS - Planning and Engagement Arenas for Renewable Energy Landscapes, se ha realizado un estudio de caso en una pequeña ciudad de Andalucía que tiene como objetivo proponer una metodología para introducir el concepto de paisaje en la planificación energética local. Se pone de relieve la importancia de dos estrategias principales: la introducción de la percepción pública y la introducción del enfoque paisajístico en los procesos de planificación, con el objetivo de mitigar las transformaciones del paisaje derivadas de la instalación de plantas solares.
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