MCAST to hold ‘Evidence-based Planning for Greener Cities Conference’
On Tuesday 13 June MCAST will be holding a conference on ' Evidence-Based Planning for Greener Cities' in collaboration with the Maltese Presidency of the EU. The conference will be held at the Institute of Applied Sciences, Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology, Paola.
The conference will be addressed by invited speakers who will analyse the important role of green infrastructure, opportunities and challenges arising from the development of green infrastructure in urban environments, and the role of science in informing city-planning and policy-making to improve the quality of life of European citizens.
Green infrastructure has been defined as a strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas that provide benefits to society whilst protecting biodiversity, thus serving the interests of both people and nature.
Green infrastructure is considered by the green economy policy for Malta as a catalyst for economic growth as it provides several benefits to society. These include increased land property values, work productivity and tourism potential, the reduction of noise and air pollution, natural flood regulation, and improved opportunities for recreation, leisure and exercise.
In contrast to the most common ‘grey’ (man-made, constructed) infrastructure approaches that serve one single objective, green infrastructure promotes multifunctionality, which means that the same area of land is able to perform several functions and offer multiple benefits if its ecosystems are in a healthy state.
The 'Evidence-Based Planning for Greener Cities' Conference will include the participation of 20 cities from all across Europe and that of Maltese stakeholders. Invited speakers will present casestudies and analyse the role of science in providing tools to inform policy-making and urban planning. Amongst other, the conference will include an analysis of the link between green spaces and selected benefits to the Maltese society, the influence of equal access to urban spaces on the health of citizens, and the importance of green infrastructure as an adaptation to climate change and for inter-sectorial policy development.
The conference is organised by the EnRoute (‘Enhancing Resilience of urban ecosystems through green infrastructure’) project, which aims to provide scientific evidence to help policymakers and planners achieve this target. EnRoute will deliver guidance on the creation and the management of urban green infrastructure and illustrate how collaboration between and across different policy levels can lead to green infrastructure policy setting.
EnRoute is a project of the Euro- pean Commission in the framework of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020. It will develop and analyse European case-studies on the implementation of green infrastructure for citizen well-being. Malta’s case-study is being implemented through the scientific support of the Institute of Applied Sciences of the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology in collaboration with the Planning Authority.
The agenda of the meeting is available from http://biodiversity.europa.eu/maes and registration can be carried out from the following link:
https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/ runner/ConferenceEvidenceForGreenerCities
More information about the conference and Malta’s work on green infrastructure within the project can be obtained by contacting MCAST Senior Lecturer Dr Mario V Balzan, who is coordinating the national case-study, on mario.balzan@mcast.edu.mt