Strengthening a Regional Green Infrastructure through Improved Multifunctionality and Connectedness: Policy Suggestions from Sardinia, Italy

Federica Isola, Sabrina Lai (), Federica Leone and Corrado Zoppi
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Federica Isola: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Sabrina Lai: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Federica Leone: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy
Corrado Zoppi: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and Architecture, University of Cagliari, 09123 Cagliari, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 15, 1-22

Abstract: A wide body of research in recent years has studied either green infrastructures as providers of multiple ecosystem services, especially at the urban level, or ecological corridors and the issue of connectivity between landscape patches in the face of growing fragmentation. However, not many studies have analyzed how the two concepts can be combined to ground evidence-based policy and planning recommendations. In this study, a methodological approach for such a combination is proposed: after mapping a regional green infrastructure building upon the assessment of multiple ecosystem services and a network of ecological corridors through the resistance to movement of species, the two spatial layouts are combined so as to analyze correlations between the potential provision of ecosystem services and the resistance to movement. The methodology is applied in the case of the island of Sardinia, whose self-containment makes it possible to discard potential effects from surrounding areas, hence facilitating the implementation of the model. The outcomes of the regression model point out three ecosystem services as the most important factors that should be targeted by appropriate spatial policies if connectivity is to be increased: regulation of micro and local climate, forestry productivity, and cultural identity and heritage values.

Keywords: ecological corridors; green infrastructure; ecosystem services; spatial planning; environmental planning; Sardinia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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