From paper plans to greener lands: operationalizing green infrastructure in strategic environmental assessment

Although Green Infrastructure (GI) and Ecosystem Services (ES) can help align spatial planning with sustainability objectives, their integration into plans subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is still limited. This study developed a two-step methodology to evaluate how SEA-related legislation and plans address GI and ES, and to quantify the potential contributions of GI-based interventions to ES delivery. The methodology evaluated both institutional and spatial dimensions by combining Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Text mining analysis was applied to European, national and regional SEA legislative texts to identify the presence and interrelations of ES-related terms. Spatial analyses quantified changes in provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting ES under baseline and GI-enhanced scenarios using specific indicators. The methodology was tested using the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (SUMP) of Alboraya (Spain) as a representative case study. Legislative texts revealed strong procedural bias and minimal reference to ES terminology, although latent conceptual links, especially around landscape, agriculture, and community, suggest institutional entry points for ES integration. In the SUMP, GI interventions improved stormwater regulation, thermal comfort and accessibility to green spaces, while landscape-related results were mixed, showing reduced patch numbers but increased distances between GI elements. These findings demonstrate that SEA provides a normative basis for ecosystem-based planning but requires clearer operational guidance. Embedding ES indicators in SEA and mobility frameworks can enhance the ecological coherence and multifunctionality of urban landscapes.