Integrating green infrastructures in spatial planning: a scrutiny of regional tools in Sardinia, Italy

Extensive urbanization is a major cause of landscape fragmentation, depletes natural habitats and affects climate change. An efficient counteraction is offered by the realization of green infrastructures (GIs). GIs contribute to ecological connectivity, increase ecosystem resilience, address climate change, and improve people’s wellbeing. Green roofs (GRs), a particular type of GIs, provide important ecosystem services in urban areas. Then, the inclusion of GIs and GRs in spatial planning processes is important for mainstreaming environmental considerations in the design of sustainable cities. Despite the interest for the integration of GIs and GRs in urban planning theories and tools, few scientific works have tackled this issue systematically. This study aims at clarifying if -and to what extent- GIs and GRs are included in regional and local plans and programs (P/Ps) adopted in Sardinia (Italy). We scrutinized the documents by using content analysis and criteria rooted in scientific literature and figured out that few plans incorporate a clear definition of GIs and GRs. Most P/Ps incorporate implicit references to GIs and GRs. Our results confirm other scientific evidence and open to future research works applied to the Sardinian and to other regional and national contexts.