The Provincial Government of Styria, PERFECT partner 4, invited over 30 people to their second stakeholder meeting, held on Thursday 30th November 2017. The stakeholder group comprised of planners, representatives of the political office of the municipalities and colleagues from different departments of the Styrian Government.

Green infrastructure in spatial planning

Attendees heard the latest on the PERFECT project, and also about the implementation of green infrastructure in the city of Graz through the eyes of a landscape planner. There was also a presentation on how green infrastructure contributes to improving the biodiversity of the city. In this, attendees learnt about the importance of maintaining a strip of green infrastructure (of at least 10 metres) along river banks for beaver populations. Without this, beavers can cause significant damage to buildings as they have lost their ‘construction area’.

Green infrastructure raises the value of real estate

Furthermore, the presentations also highlighted how the presence of green infrastructure can improve the value of real estate in the area and this was demonstrated through an example from some research from 2008 in Berlin. Property situated less than 400m from a green area had an average value of €440/m², whereas property situated further than 400m from a green area had an average value of €270/m².