Green infrastructure: reconciling urban green space and regional economic development: lessons learnt from experience in England's north-west region

Green infrastructure (GI) is an approach to green space that is gathering momentum. It is increasingly being adopted by policy makers and practitioners as a way to frame urban green space policy. This article is based on research on how the meaning of GI is developing in the policy-making context within the north-west region of the UK. It is argued that policy making at the regional scale emphasises economic development, and this leads to a particular way of framing urban green space. This article examines the ways of talking about GI that respond to this focus, the way in which they are articulated and the impact this has on ways of seeing urban green space.