1 Introduction

Since the first Rio Summit held in 1992, sustainable development has been one of the most important driving forces for the future cities (UN, 1992).

Concerning spatial planning, this concept needs to be transferred into new ‘performance-based’ models that aim to reconcile the two conflictual aspects of sustainable growth, considering the social and economic growth together with the reduction of environmental pressure (OECD, 2002).

In this scenario, the Green and Blue Infrastructures (GBI), developed by the nature-based solution (Ronchi et al., 2020) represent a strategic tool for planning and management of ecosystem services at the city scale, necessary to support economic and social development (Chatzimentor et al., 2020) with a positive influence on the quality of life and the population’s health (EU 2022b).

As defined in the European Union’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aimed at protecting nature and reversing the degradation of ecosystems (EU 2022a), in 2013 the European Commission presented its definition of green infrastructure (GI) in order to enhance it and become an integral part of spatial planning and territorial development in all its member states (Monteiro et al., 2020).

Defined as a “strategically planned network of natural and semi-natural areas with other environmental features designed and managed to deliver a wide range of ecosystem services” (EU, 2013), such as provisioning services (i.e. food and water), regulation/maintenance services (i.e. flood and disease control), cultural services (i.e. spiritual, recreational and cultural benefits) (Haines-Young & Potschin, 2018); the advantage of GI lies in their multifunctionality in connecting different purposes with one another and thereby being very suitable for contemporary spatial planning themes.

Nonetheless, the “adaptation of both research and practice concepts in spatial planning is still rather new”, also in Italy (Di Marino, 2021).

In fact, at national scale, some critical aspects in the development of green infrastructure must be taken into consideration, referring to both political and technical aspects.

The first concerns planning policies and regulations. In general, the literature emphasizes the lack of detailed action strategies or policies that hardly transfer the theoretical planning principles into practical execution and implementation in land-use planning (Monteiro et al., 2020).

Although the European policies promote GI as a 'conceptual tool' for the provision of ecosystem services at different territorial scales (Gómez-Baggethun & Barton, 2013) that need to find effectiveness in urban planning practices, this guideline is not supported at national level by a legal framework that defines GI inside the traditional land-use plan.

Therefore, as the green infrastructure is based on a multiscale planning approach, the lack of prescriptive implication means a lack of spatial definition of GI that could be included in the regional and provincial administrative levels. As a result, the design and management of the GI is still a component of land-use plans developed at municipal scale, that are not suitable to meet contemporary issues based on sustainable development and environmental protection.

At this point, technical aspects have to be considered. It concerns the need to merge all the available data into one consistent data set to visualize the current state of all natural and semi-natural spaces (also considering urban green areas) which came from different instruments deriving from various planning levels at different scales. The challenges of compiling these different data from different sources to a consistent and current state of green spaces were multiple: the plans are not necessarily coordinated with each other and might give different information that needs to be joined.

Also, to perform a GI that considers the provision of multiple benefits in terms of provisioning regulation and maintenance and cultural services, environmental performances that derive from the natural component of the GI need to be joined with elements of values that belong to the historical and cultural component of landscape (Council of Europe, 2000).

In this scenario, it is necessary to test a unified method for the definition and spatial design of the GI, that will be a basic instrument to develop green strategies at the municipal scale.

For this purpose, starting from an experience conducted in the municipality of Falconara Marittima (province of Ancona) located in Marche Region (central part of Italy), the paper provides a methodological procedure of downscaling of selected landscape and ecological value deriving from the regional and provincial planning instruments from the spatial scale to municipal scale, that includes ES into a GI planning.

Results provide the spatial definition, quantification and characterization of the Rete ecologica locale (REL—local ecological network) and Rete ecologica comunale (REC—municipal ecological network) as the large-scale framework that ensures an integrated natural resource planning tool necessary for the implementation of the GI and the provisioning of ecosystem services at the city scale.

Discussions highlight how this method will help to integrate GI into traditional land-use plans.

Conclusions state future scenarios to build spatial planning strategies for the development of the future green masterplan to manage natural resources at the city scale.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Case Study

The Municipality of Falconara Marittima is a small town located in the terminal part of the Esino river valley on the Adriatic coast and close to Ancona, the regional capital of the Marche region (central Italy).

The municipal area extends for 25.81 km2, with a residential population of 25,727 and a population density of 996.78 (inhabitants/ km2, ISPRA, 2022a; ISTAT, 2021).

The municipal territory appears strongly influenced by the productive areas and infrastructures (A14 motorway, Ancona-Rome railway line, SS76, SS16 variant), the refinery extending along the coast and the airport extending inland in a south-easterly direction (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
A map of Italy on which the Marche region is marked and zoomed in. On the map of the Marche region, the province of Ancona is highlighted and zoomed in. On the map of the province of Ancona, the locations of the refinery, railway route, and airport are marked

Study area

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These elements are considered to be the two major critical barriers to the development of the ecological framework, consisting of environmental connections and biodiversity. Furthermore, over time the naturalistic and physiological aspects that once made it a qualified resource from a tourist point of view have disappeared.

The habitat of greatest ecological and naturalistic value is recognized in the alluvial plain south of the Esino estuary, while the concentration of infrastructures and productive areas has considerably reduced the potential of the agricultural landscape, which presents a widespread phenomenon of environmental degradation due to changes in the agricultural ecosystem.

In 2021, the municipality council asked to Department of Environmental Engineering, Materials and Urban Planning (SIMAU) of the Marche Polytechnic University to provide its scientific support in drawing up the Green Masterplan as a strategic tool to define a vision of the green (and blue) infrastructures at the municipal scale. This instrument, legally recognized by the Italian Ministerial Decree for the public green spaces approved in 2020 (D.M. 10 MARZO, 2020), will represent a fundamental tool for pursuing objectives of sustainability and effectiveness in the management of urban green space at the city scale.

Focusing on the enhancing of ecological performance and the quality of green space as a priority for the urban environment, a large-scale framework of environmental relations that work at the inter-municipal scale had to be considered.

2.2 Local Green Infrastructure Design

In order to design the local green infrastructure considering a performance-based approach (Kendig, 1980), this case study selected elements of value from the traditional spatial planning instrument, able to supply a large range of ecosystem services. For this purpose, we matched the three categories of ES defined by the Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services (CICES 5.1) (Czúcz et al., 2018; Maes et al., 2013) into spatial planning levels derived from current territorial and municipal planning tools (Table 1).

Table 1 Relation between elements selected from various planning instruments and ES categories defined by CICES 5.1
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To do this, resources and values have been divided into two levels: (a) level 1 concerns all natural and ecological resources and mainly contributes to the spatial definition of the GI; (b) level 2 concerns historical and cultural elements and resources that could add value to the network and give a specific characterization to a part of it.

The amplification of the values of the whole system depends mainly on the proximity of these elements to the main frame of the natural elements. At this point, the two levels of values are linked to ES as described:

Level 1—ecological and natural resources merge the needs of supplying provisioning plus regulation/maintenance services. For the spatial definition of these two categories of ES, we selected ecological element of value from mandatory regional and provincial planning instruments (Regional Landscape Plan PPAR, Territorial Provincial Plan PTC), and nonmandatory instruments developed at regional scale (Regional Ecological Network of Marche Region REM). These planning tools are sectoral for the management of natural resources, the promotion of ecological connections and to ensure the protection of biodiversity at the territorial scale. Data were taken from regional and provincial open-source databases. At the urban scale, data from Sistema Informativo Territoriale SIT, database from the Municipality of Falconara Marittima, were used to complete the framework.

Firstly, we considered the Piano Paesistico Ambientale Regionale (regional landscape plan, PPAR (Marche Region, 1989) as the sectoral instrument operates at the entire territorial scale for the Marche Region and aims to guarantee the protection of the landscape by combining the different definitions of landscape image, geographical landscape, ecological landscape in a unified notion of landscape-environment. From a legal point of view, it is spatially recognized with the D.C.R. of Marche Region of 1989 n. 197, and its prescriptions are still in force.

Considering the three thematic subsystems (sottosistemi tematici) that describe the entire regional territory i.e. (a) geological/geomorphological/hydrogeological system; (b) botanical and vegetational system; (c) historical and cultural system; we selected specific categories (categorie costitutive del paesaggio) related to the thematic subsystem of natural and ecological resources (a) and (b) (Table 1).

Secondly, the Piano Territoriale di Coordinamento (Territorial Coordination Plan, PTC (Province of Ancona, 2003) was used. It provides the tools for the analysis and evaluation of the territorial structure and resources in the provinces of Marche. It is in accordance with the legislation on national and regional levels and plans as the PPAR and mainly serves as a coordination tool within the province. For the province of Ancona, it was already established in 2003 and modified in 2008.

From the database of PTC, we processed shape files that identified large areas with natural continuity (fasce di continuità naturalistica) which include existing protected areas and their possible expansions. Resources are concentrated on the edges of the municipality and especially on the Esino River. Furthermore, there is a buffer strip (fasce di rispetto) touching Falconara Marittima’s boundaries in the northwest and south.

Thirdly, starting from the database of the Marche Ecological Network (Regional Ecological Network of Marche, REM (Marche Region, 2013) we define the regional framework of the ecological network. REM was designed by a team of botanical experts to support ecological function, species interaction and biodiversity conservation, while maintaining the values and services of natural systems necessary to ensure GI connectivity (Sandström et al., 2006). It provides a complete framework of priorities, critical issues and planning strategies to preserve natural resources for biodiversity conservation, the improvement of ecosystem functionality by reducing the fragmentation of natural and semi-natural habitats and the provision of ecosystem services. It is also a fundamental tool to preserve the primary natural elements for the local scale, designing the connection between sites with different degrees of naturalness to strengthen the vegetational part of the local landscape. From a legal point of view, it is spatially recognized with a Marche Region normative framework - Legge Regionale 2013, n. 2.

Lastly, we select the whole framework of public UGS and local data from the urban green census as a part of the land-use plan (Piano Regolatore Generale, PRG, Italian Law n. 1150 of 1942) provided by the Municipality.

The data were obtained through a direct survey of green areas and environmental resources across the municipal area, providing the Topographic Database of the Green Heritage from the geographic information system (SIT, https://sit.comune.falconara-marittima.an.it) from the Municipality, manageable through the QGIS open-source software.

As indicated in the Italian Ministerial Decree for the public green spaces approved in 2020 (D.M. 10 MARZO, 2020), the map base was created in the system standard reference map in Italy (ETRF2000 period 2008) defined as the national geodetic reference system by ministerial decree of 10 November 2011. In particular, for this reference system RDN2008, the EPSG code 7792 (E, N, fused 33) was used. Subsequently, the map was saved in shapefile format (.shp).

The QGIS project allows you to view and query the following layers with their associated databases:

  • zone.shp: areas and neighborhoods of the municipal territory;

  • localita.shp: "locality" intended as green areas managed in the public green maintenance contract.

  • P1.shp: trees-shrubs-in pots/planters (point elements)

  • L1.shp: rows-hedges-climbing-road edges (linear elements)

  • S1.shp: lawns-flower beds-plants (surface elements)

All the elements indicated are deducted from the public area’s green census, not complete.

In fact, despite the public green areas represented being directly managed by the Municipality, there are other green areas owned by the municipality but managed by private, or still managed by the municipality without property rights. These data were not included in the green census provided by the Municipality.

All of these levels have been added for completing the visualization of the current state.

Level 2 - historical and cultural resources merge the needs of supplying cultural services, identifying the intangible ecosystem outputs that enable a range of experiential and intellectual activities. It covers all the ways that living systems contribute to or enable cultural benefits to be realized, which could improve people’s quality of life (Haines-Young & Potschin, 2018).

Considering the landscape itself as a “part of the land, as perceived by local people or visitors, which evolves through time as a result of being acted upon by natural forces and human beings” (Council of Europe, 2000), we select elements of values deriving from the category (c) historical and cultural system of the Regional Landscape Plan (PPAR) that provide non-material socio-cultural and economic benefits to citizens (i.e. aesthetic and recreational values, sense of place, cultural heritage).

The downscaling method selected the data from the evaluation of the urban planning tools described above and then processed them using the QGIS platform to perform an overlay analysis.

Considering level 1—ecological and natural resources, the major complexity derived from the downscaling of the ecological elements recognized by REM into the local ecological network.

At regional scale, REM defined 82 Functional Ecological Units (UEF) that summarize the environmental system by integrating information of a vegetational, fauna and anthropic nature in order to characterize the ecological fabric in its different structural and functional articulations.

As a central and constitutive element of the REM, they highlight the strong interrelation between natural elements and anthropic activities that give rise to the diversity of landscapes typical of the Marche Region.

In our case study, we selected 4 UEF to define the study area inside the local system: n.16 Colli costieri di Senigallia, n.21 Colline Santa Maria Nuova-Osimo, n.76 Valle dell' Esino, n.82 Ancona (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2
A map of the Falconara Marittima. The outline of four ecological units numbered 16, 76, 21, and 82 are traced. The area of municipality area, strategic municipalities for the R E L project, urban area, industry, infrastructure, and one layer region are shaded with different shades.

Four UEF defined by REM, n. 16, 76, 82, 21. In yellow color: localization of 5 municipalities interested by the downscaling process: a Falconara Marittima, b Montemarciano, c Monte San Vito, d Chiaravalle, e Camerata Picena

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Then, we identified 5 municipalities that are strategic for their geographical position in-between two environmental systems identified by: (1) the north part of the coastal areas of Ancona, (2) the Esino river valley: (a) Falconara Marittima, (b) Montemarciano, (c) Monte San Vito, (d) Chiaravalle, (e) Camerata Picena.

Their selection is derived from the overlaid of the UEF defined at the regional scale by REM and administrative boundaries.

Then, we collect the principle element that builds the local ecological network (Noss, 1987): (a) nodes, defined as core areas of greatest ecological value in the Region and are the keystone of the REM. In terms of ecological value, they are classified into three categories: the Natura 2000 Network, the Floristic Areas (AF) and the Wildlife Protection Oases (OPF); (b) buffer zones defined as parts of territory functionally connected to the nodes; (c) ecological corridors, the parts of natural vegetation connected to the others (maximum gap 100m), within the target species can move freely without the presence of physical barriers; (d) stepping stones, natural vegetation not included in systems to extend and strengthen ecological links in the most fragmented areas.

Using the 2018 CORINE Land Cover database, CLC (EEA, 1995), the work examined land use in the study area to get a general impression of the environmental system compared to large-scale built and to find out and obtain other environmental elements necessary for the implementation of natural systems on a local scale.

Considering level 2 - historical and cultural resources, the downscaling process concerned isolated historical buildings and the archaeological site of cultural value recognized in category (c) of the PPAR, which could be physically connected to the primary ecological network (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3
A map of Falconara Marittima. The location of historical cores and centers is marked. The area of historical buildings Rocca priora, San Lorenzo Martire, and ex-Mulino Santinelli are shaded. The full protection area and archeological zones are shaded.

Source: Author’s own elaboration from data taken by the Land-use Plan of Falconara Marittima - Drawing B.05 ‘Trasposizione degli ambiti provvisori di tutela del PPAR e relative livelli di tutela’

Level 2 of resource derived from PPAR category (c). In green color: isolated historical buildings and the archaeological site of cultural value.

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This action aims to enhance these elements by providing specific requalification actions that will amplify the cultural ES and benefit from the GI.

3 Results

The first result of the downscaling method is represented by the spatial definition of the Rete ecologica locale (REL—local ecological network) as the large-scale framework that connected the natural system to the set of green spaces within the urban areas of the municipality of Falconara Marittima (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4
A topography map of Falconara Marittima. The R E M added nodes, R E M nods A F, R E M nods natura 2000, R E M nods O P F, R E M nods buffer, connected system of regional interest, locally connected system, unconnected local system, stepping stone, and study area boundary are marked.

Map of the local ecological network, REL derived by the downscaling of the REM elements from the regional scale to the local system

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4 Downscaling of the Elements of the Ecological Network from the Regional to the Inter-Municipal Scale

Specifically, the REL is characterized by a series of elements derived from REM, implemented with local elements of natural systems identified by the land-use categories recognition.

Within the boundaries of REL, 10 nodes are mapped, while the natural continuities are subdivided into these three categories: (a) connected system of regional interest, as the Esino River (b) locally connected system, 3) unconnected local system and quantified (Table 2). Also, nine stepping stones are spread over the territory. These are fundamental elements to reconstruct local connections to the primary ecological system. They correspond to approximately 2.642 km2.

Table 2 Nodes and connection systems of the local ecological network identified by the project
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The second result consisted of the definition of the municipal ecological framework (Rete Ecologica Comunale, REC) which can be considered the constitutive framework for the spatial definition of the future GI project. In particular, the downscaling of elements classified in level 1 and level 2 made it possible to evaluate REC from both quantitative and qualitative point of view (Klimanova & Illarionova, 2020).

Specifically, the quantitative evaluation of the green areas within the municipal boundaries of Falconara Marittima highlights the ratio between the total REC in the municipal area and the availability of REC per capita, equal to 31.90 (m2/inh., Table 3).

Table 3 Quantitative evaluation of REC—Ecological network developed at the municipal scale of Falconara Marittima
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This data exceeds the green space availability of the 4 provincial capitals of the Marche Region (Marinosci, 2018).

Furthermore, the correspondence between level 1 and level 2 of the selected resources provides a quantification of the different types of ES potentially provided by them (Table 4), and their spatial distribution (Fig. 5).

Table 4 A quantification of ES provided by spatial levels derived from traditional planning instruments
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Fig. 5
A map of Falconara Marittima. Coastal dune, uncultivated area, panoramic area, river, Esino river, coast, agricultural landscape, slopes, rows of trees, archeological area, historical centers and buildings, respect bands, axes of the ridges, R E M aspects, and municipal green census are marked.

REC as the spatial framework for the green infrastructure design

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The qualitative evaluation of the REC based on the spatial distribution of natural elements shows that the primary landscape system can mainly be identified around the Esino River in the northeast of the municipality, while the public green spaces are concentrated in the urban spaces in the northeast and partly east of the airport.

There is no information on private green although it has a significant influence on the appearance and perception of the municipality.

This asset also confirms that the airport, the industrial area and the A.P.I. refinery are the three major infrastructural elements that constitute the most significant barrier to the natural elements, causing a reduction in connectivity and ecological functions (Sandström et al., 2006) and a limitation in the supply of ES.

In particular, the presence of the large paving area occupied by the airport strongly influences the blue infrastructure, with limitations in the interaction between species and in diversity, especially for birds.

5 Discussions

From an integrated perspective of planning natural resources, this paper presents a valid method to support the future development of GI inside the land-use plan.

With this approach, the step by step transition from REM to REL guarantees the environmental connection from the territorial scale to the city scale, while the transition to REC is fundamental to design and manage the framework of urban green space to support and provide the three categories of ES defined by CICES 5.1.

For these reasons, it could represent a support to the strategic design of the green infrastructure easily replicable to other contexts.

Differently, the GI is site-specific and strongly linked to the specificity of the contexts and the needs of the place. With reference to the eight planning principles fundamental to develop and use the green infrastructure (Monteiro et al., 2020), selected by the scientific literature, the downscaling method provides a support for the implementation of three of these principles: (a) “multifunctionality”, as the basis of this method aims at the introjection of ES in the GI to define its ecological, recreational, cultural and aesthetic functions.; (b) “multiscale”, since the method takes into account all the different scales of resources, from the regional to the municipal scale; (c) “governance”, as downscaling needs to build a partnership of several municipalities to develop the local network, based on collaboration between the government and the citizen in the planning process.

At this point, starting from the spatial analysis and distribution of the ES, different strategies and actions can be defined to design GI in order to verify: (d) “connectivity”, to preserve and enhance biodiversity and sustain species interactions; (e) integration, based on the promotion of synergies between green and grey infrastructures; (f) “diversity”, defined as the capacity to implement a wide range of nature-based solution within the urban areas, also introducing the blue infrastructure in GI planning; (g) “applicability”, a principle that take into consideration the real feasibility of the solutions that develop the GI; (h) “continuity”, referring to the investment process and monitoring of solutions to be effective over time.

With reference to the case study, specific actions to implement GI can be developed starting from these principles.

They are focusing on connecting and creating a new GI design that verifies the eight principles, through the development of natural capital maintenance, enhancement and regeneration management strategies that lead to the achievement of sustainable, resilient, inclusive and competitive urban areas.

At this point, for the municipality of Falconara Marittima, a major vision consisted of the conversion of the railways in the municipality around the refinery, with the potential of connecting the city in a new way through green spaces. Another major vision is connecting the coastal zone with the green spaces in the inland. Furthermore, there should be a greater focus on the river Esino and its ecological potential. Lastly, the areas to the east of the airport offer various possibilities for implementing and strengthening green connections between the edges of the municipality and its center.

Regarding the limitations of this study, the availability and alignment of local and regional data is critical to building a unified process that collects different data from different sources for a coherent and current state of the elements.

Traditional planning tools, in fact, are not necessarily coordinated with each other and can sometimes provide conflicting indications. The data strongly differs in the scale and accuracy they offered and are not a tool for merging all the information at once.

Also, the integration of the data with site investigation is fundamental for realistic assessment and defining local strategies. It is also necessary to consider that in this specific case study, planning the natural resources is fundamental to rebalance the critical environmental pressure for urban areas, which derives from the presence of infrastructural nodes between the coast and the mouth of the Esino River.

Therefore, the development of the new Green Plan for the Municipality which considers the conservation and management of natural resources represents the central element to contrast the local environmental pressure.

In this sense, the downscaling method described in this work could be replicable in other contexts with different environmental and local needs by adopting a new design approach that is mainly focused on natural resources and values.

To do this, a participatory process that involves citizens and stakeholders in the decision-making process will be fundamental for the management and maintenance of green solutions over time (Jansson & Lindgren, 2012).

Finally, since this analysis was carried out within the Italian planning systems and rules, the replicability must be adapted to other contexts and their specificities.

6 Conclusions

In spatial planning issues, in order to support economic and social development and improve the quality of life of all people, a new paradigm is needed which starts from the evaluation of the strategic role of natural resources.

Therefore, the principles of sustainability need to be transferred into new 'performance-based' planning models, where “standards are based on performance, not land use […] which gives a prospective developer many choices or options, yet sets clear, unequivocal levels of performance” (Kendig, 1980). This approach considers the provision of ecosystem services through the design of green infrastructures as an alternative to the 'zoning' of the traditional land-use plan.

A possible Italian way to shift from traditional models to new spatial planning models more suited to contemporary sustainability issues can be represented by a reconsideration of elements of value that come from the set of territorial and municipal planning tools through a vision based on the supply of ES.

The paper illustrates a methodological procedure for downscaling the selected landscape and ecological value deriving from the mandatory regional and provincial instruments from the spatial to the local and municipal scale, which includes ES in a GI planning.

Since the case study focuses on the Italian planning system, this method offers guidelines for the implementation of GI into land-use plan, developed at a municipal scale. It also contributes to building a starting point for the development of the green master plans at the city scale, a sectoral planning instrument for the development and management of new urban and peri-urban green spaces (Italian ‘green standards’) necessary for the continuity of natural resources, that will improve the quality of land-use plans.