The more intensively we exploit the urban and rural landscape, the greater the demands we place on our environment and what it can provide. Demographic change, shrinking cities, urban expansion, climate change and the transition to renewable energy sources are confronting us with challenges of ever greater magnitude. Solar fields and bio-energy crops are changing the face of the landscape and new traffic and energy infrastructure criss-crosses the countryside. Meanwhile, vast efforts are being made to adapt existing infrastructure to meet changing demands.

In the process, it has once again become clear that we must consider our use of natural resources not just from a local perspective but within a broader context. Green infrastructure strategies can take quite different forms, ranging from floodwater protection measures to the integration of traffic and energy systems and the development of urban green. The goal for society is to improve the diversity and resilience of our environment and to minimize the effects of climate change.

In essays, interviews and profiles of the best realized projects from the past few years, Green Infrastructure examines the challenges and tasks facing contemporary landscape architecture and what it can achieve to address them. This book is published on the occasion of the awarding of the German Landscape Architecture Prize 2015.