Open Spaces and Green Infrastructure – A Comparison with Planning Indications for the City of Rome

Urban Green Infrastructure is increasingly acknowledged as a consolidated planning approach to ensure the provision of ecosystem services in cities and therefore increase their levels of resilience to different internal and external drivers and pressures. This paper argues that a fundamental step in the planning process of the Green Infrastructure must include the identification, analysis and mapping of all different types of open spaces that can be integrated and connected in a GI. In two urban-rural transects in the city of Rome, all different open spaces have been identified and mapped and then compared to the existing planning indications included in the current land use plan of the city. Results showed significant differences between the formally planned and recognized urban green space with the current open spaces and new opportunities to increase the size and quality of Green Infrastructure have been proposed.