From the theoretical context of Smart City variousudstudies have emerged that adopt an analytical approachudand description of urban phenomena based on theudprinciples of “network design”; this line of research usesudthe network systems theory to define the principles thatudregulate the relationships among the various elementsudof urban sub-systems in order to optimize theirudfunctionality. From the same theoretical basis, urbanudgreenspaces have also been studied as networks, byudmeans of the creation of models capable of measuringudthe performance of the system in its entirety, posing theudbasis of a new multy-disciplinary research field calledudgreen network. This paper presents the results ofudresearch aimed at clarifying the meaning of greenudnetwork from an urban planning perspective through audlexical analysis applied to a textual corpus of more thanud300 abstracts of research papers that have dealt withudthis topic over the last twenty years. The results showudthat the concept of green network appears still fuzzyudand unclear, due to the different meaning given to theudterm “green” and to an incorrect use of the termud“network”, often referred to as a generic set of naturaludareas present in a city, without any reference to theudnetwork system theory or to the basic rules linkingudthese elements together. For this reason, the paperudproposes a unique definition of green network from anudurban planning perspective that takes into account theudcontribution of other research areas to effective greenudinfrastructure planning. This is the concept of “urbanudgreen network design” defined as “an urban planningudpractice, supported by decision support tools able toudmodel green infrastructure as network, composed byudnatural and semi-natural areas, whose connections areudmodelled according to specific variables, in order touddeliver an equal distribution of public services forudenhancing the quality of life as well as a wide range ofudecosystem services”.
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