GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AS A FACILITATOR OF SUSTAINABLE SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS: EXPERIENCES FROM THE VIPAVA VALLEY (SLOVENIA)

Although the green infrastructure concept should be implemented in both urban and rural areas, only few studies investigate the green infrastructure concept in the rural settings. This paper contributes to the relevant discussion by analysing how green infrastructure can serve as a facilitator to sustainable spatial development in the predominantly rural area and at the regional level based on the planning experiences from the Vipava Valley (Vipavska dolina), Slovenia. The Vipava Approach is a bottom-up approach that understands green infrastructure in the broader developmental context and not only as a protection or land-use planning. Planning green infrastructure in rural areas should have characteristics of participatory planning on the local level, but it needs to take into account other territorial dimensions of planning as well. It needs to be holistic by addressing key developmental problems on the basis of a strategic development document.