Functionality and Value of Green Infrastructure in Metropolitan Sprawl: What Is the City’s Future? A Case Study of the Bogotá-Sabana Northern Region

Abstract

From the planning perspective, green infrastructure emerges as an effective strategy to address the effects of climate change and its negative impacts on urban growth. Consequently, the concept of green infrastructure represents a paradigm shift in the way in which green open space is conceived from the urban growth perspective. The concept of green infrastructure has featured prominently in urban planning since the late twentieth century. Thus, this study aims, firstly, to determine the functionality of green infrastructure in terms of population density; and secondly, to evaluate the effects of urban expansion plans on sustainable development of green infrastructure. The research applied as methods multispectral satellite imagery information to obtaining a Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and space syntax related with urban morphology. As main conclusion, in the municipality, there is a disconnection and disarticulation between public spaces and green areas, with the main uses, activities and facilities, as well as a road infrastructure having no connectivity. Furthermore, there is no evidence of biomass corridors that connect the space between the rivers, and the green areas identified through the NDVI analysis result more commonly to be none build areas, or low density edifications and rarely parks or natural corridors where biomass is meant to be preserved.