Spatial planning for open spaces and Green Infrastructure in the Alpine region

In the Alpine region, there is a particular need for action in spatial planning to safeguard open spaces and develop Green Infrastructure (GI). In addition to the strong impact of climate change, the sensitivity of Alpine ecosystems, numerous geohazards and the scarcity of potential permanent settlement space lead to diverse land use conflicts that require coordinated spatial planning. The Alpine region can be regarded as a "burning glass" of (future) land use conflicts, which arise there in an intensified form compared to regions outside the Alps. However, this also offers the opportunity to act as a model region for land-saving and sustainable territorial development through well-founded planning mechanisms with a model character for spatial planning in other regions as well.

Important requirements for sustainable territorial development in the Alpine region have been formulated in their main outlines in the Protocols of the Alpine Convention. Since then, steps have been taken to operationalise and implement them, most recently for instance through the work of the Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development Working Group of the Alpine Convention. In order to strengthen the transnational exchange of knowledge and experience on spatial planning in the Alpine region, ARL has founded the permanent European Working Group AlpPlan (Alpine spatial planning network). AlpPlan is an interdisciplinary network open to scientists and practitioners from all Alpine countries, dealing with spatial planning and development from a cross-border perspective.

As an observer organisation, ARL was involved in the Interreg Alpine Space project OpenSpaceAlps (Sustainable development of alpine open spaces by enhancing spatial planning governance, 2019-2022). The open space concept refers to areas, which are permanently kept free from buildings, technical infrastructures and soil sealing. This approach focuses on open spaces outside continuous settlements in order to highlight the importance of open spaces on a landscape level. Open spaces should not simply be understood as “residual spaces”. Building on the approaches of Green Infrastructure and ecosystem services, open spaces can also be defined in terms of their specific functions or services for the environment (ecosystems), economy and society (cf. Figure below).

The specific instruments of spatial planning differ between the Alpine states and regions. However, commonalities can be identified in the form of “planning principles”, which form the basis of spatial planning decisions. Spatial planning strategies for open spaces differ in relation to the affected types of alpine spaces. The aim of the OpenSpaceAlps project and its planning handbook is to encourage and promote a more consistent approach to safeguarding open spaces throughout the Alpine region. A schematic example for consistent safeguarding of open spaces is visualised in the following figure.

Click here to see large image.

The main outcomes of the OpenSpaceAlps project are:

• OpenSpaceAlps Planning Handbook: Perspectives for consistent safeguarding of open spaces in the Alpine region (2022)
• OpenSpaceAlps Strategic recommendations (extended version) (2022)
• Storymap: Mapping open spaces in the Alpine region

While the open space concept focuses on the presence/absence of buildings and technical infrastructure, the Green Infrastructure (GI) concept focuses more on the diverse functions and services of green spaces. GI is 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 […”] by the EU Strategy on Green Infrastructure. As a cross-cutting issue, GI is linked to many relevant fields of action, such as e.g. climate protection/adaptation, energy transition, biodiversity protection, ecological connectivity, sustainable tourism or natural hazard prevention.

The following figure from EUSALP AG7 shows the large variety of the different Alpine GI topics and perspectives. Their multifunctionality, benefits for the people and interlinkages between green cities, rural landscapes and the inner-alpine areas are at the core of the graphic.

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Please find here relevant activities/information related to GI and spatial planning:

• EUSALP Action Group 7 – Green Infrastructure
• Interreg Alpine Space project LUIGI: Linking Urban and Inner-Alpine Green Infrastructure - Multifunctional Ecosystem Services for more liveable territories (2019-2022)
• Alpine Climate Target System/ Climate Action Plan 2.0: Implementation pathways “spatial planning”
• EUSALP Action Group 8 – Risk Governance: Climate-resilient spatial planning in the Alps

Direct (habitat degradation) and indirect (urban sprawl and landscape fragmentation) effects have severely limited ecological connectivity in Europe over the past decades. Due to the comparatively lower intensity of land use, there is still scope of action in the Alpine region to preserve/restore (supra-) regional migration corridors and to safeguard them through planning. The coordination function of spatial planning for the connectivity of protected areas is particularly important. As a multifunctional part of Green Infrastructure, such areas not only have a function for ecological connectivity, but also feature multiple other synergies, such as adaptation to climate change or the preservation of the cultural landscape.

Please find here relevant activities/information related to ecological connectivity and spatial planning:

• PLACE Report on Spatial Planning and Ecological Connectivity in the Alps (2019)
• Interreg Danube project SaveGREEN: Safeguarding the functionality of transnationally important ecological corridors in the Danube basin (2020-2022)
• Interreg Alpine Space project ALPBIONET2030 (2016-2019)
• Alpine Nature 2030 Report: Creating [ecological] connectivity for generations to come (2016)
• Lebensraumvernetzung.at - The information portal on habitat networking in Austria and neighbouring countries (information in DE and EN)
• Reports (DE, Abstract in EN) Lebensraumsvernetzung Österreich: Grundlagen – Aktionsfelder – Zusammenarbeit (2016) and Lebensraumvernetzung zur Sicherung der Biodiversität in Österreich (2018)

Spatial planning in the Alpine Region is challenged by numerous future-oriented tasks related to the above-mentioned topics. These include for instance:

• (Supra-)Regional coordination of renewable energy installations
• Integrated spatial and energy planning
• Fostering GI multifunctionality and connectivity
• Incorporating ecosystem services in spatial planning

Many of the issues addressed require cross-border coordination and cooperation. The "Alps2050" project has provided an initial orientation for common visions/guiding principles for spatial development in the Alpine Region. A common transnational "Alpine Spatial Development Perspective" is currently under discussion.

• Securing open space and ecosystem protection