Green infrastructures Barcelona – 3rd cross-sectorial advisory council meeting
Working at the periurban/ metropolitan scale. Colour stickers were used to highlight different ecosystem services.
Cross-sectorial Advisory Council on Green Infrastructures in Barcelona, Spain
In the framework of the OpenNESS project (Operationalisation of Natural Capital and Ecosystem Services), a cross-sectorial Advisory Council was established in Barcelona in 2014. This council gathers representatives of the local and regional administration, sectorial agencies, universities, associations and NGOs, with the goal of networking and sharing ideas to promote the deployment of the Green Infrastructure in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region, one of the most densely populated urban areas in Europe (approx. 5 million inhabitants in 3.242 Km2).
The Cross-sectorial Advisory Council on Green Infrastructures (GI) gathers professionals from different sectors to promote the deployment of GI in Barcelona Metropolitan Region.
Since then, FEDENATUR (and now on EUROPARC) has formed part of this platform, which meets on an annual basis. This platform brings together professionals from different knowledge, background and responsibilities. Land planners, architects, environmentalists, biologists, farmers and researchers, among others, share their visions on ecosystem services and green infrastructure.
These meetings are conducted by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) in collaboration with the Department of Territory and Sustainability of the Barcelona Provincial Council (Diputació de Barcelona).
3rd meeting of the cross-sectorial advisory council
Last 16th of December 2016, the Barcelona Metropolitan Region on green infrastructure cross-sectorial advisory council celebrated its 3rd meeting, which was split in two parts.
During the first one, Erik Gómez-Baggethun from Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, presented the main results from the OpenNESS project. Carles Castell from the Barcelona Provincial Council, and Joan Pino and Corina Basnou from the CREAF – Ecological and Forestry Applications Research Centre, presented last updates on ecosystem services mapping and green infrastructure in Barcelona province.
Putting in common of all three scales analysis: urban, metropolitan and territorial.
Besides, a team from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area presented an overview of the Metropolitan Urban Master Plan methodology of work and also of the Special plan for Collserola Natural Park, which should be approved by the end of next year.
A practical workshop on Green Infrastructure (GI) challenges followed. Participants were assigned, according to their background, to one of three working groups (urban, metropolitan and territorial). The aim was to identify and prioritise what would be the strategic GI elements for Barcelona- at these three different scales – based on the Ecosystem services that these GI elements would yield.
More information about the cases and the tools and methods used in the OpenNESS project can be found on Oppla: www.oppla.eu