Relationship between greenways and ecological network : a case study in Italy

Linear green infrastructures along rivers and canals serve different functions: Green corridors, or ecological network, maintain biological diversity, improve water quality, and provide areas for fauna and flora to grow and thrive. Greenways connect people with landscape resources and serve as recreational areas that are easy to use and accessible to the greatest number of potential human users. Both ecological networks and greenways are linear structures crossing the landscape, both perform a connecting function in that they are elements created for migration and movement (in one case of flora and fauna and in the other of humans), and both generally contain vegetation. Greenways can be divided into three major categories: ecological greenways, recreational greenways, and greenways with historical/cultural value. When an ecological greenway is planned and designed, human-wildlife conflicts must be minimised. This paper has three objectives: - to understand the relationship between greenways and ecological networks in the Italian rural landscape; - to define a methodology useful for planning a greenway with ecological value; - to validate the application of this methodology to a case of study of the Naviglio di Bereguardo greenway, near Milano in the north of Italy