Green Infrastructure 2014 Group K - Case Study 3
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Green Infrastructure of the Rural Settlement Tvrdošovce and its Surrounding Landscape
Name | Tvrdošovce Municipality | |
Country | Slovakia | |
Place | Tvrdošovce | |
Authors | Attila Tóth | |
Rationale: Why is this case interesting?
Contemporary research into Green Infrastructure is mainly applied to urban areas of cities and towns, while rural settlements (villages and small rural towns) and their landscapes are still a bit overshadowed in terms of research, planning and design practice. Therefore, exploring the green infrastructure in rural landscapes stands for a challenging research and design task for landscape architects and related specialists. Why is the case of Tvrdošovce (Tardoskedd) relevant for answering research questions about rural green infrastructure? It is one of the largest rural settlements (small towns) in Slovakia in terms of inhabitants (more than 5,300) as well as in terms of size/area (5,556 ha / 55.56 m2), while still having a rural character in terms of urbanism, architecture, landscape and other spatial features. It is surrounded by an extensive agricultural landscape typical for the Danube Lowland which has undergone vast structural changes during the last three centuries, but mainly in the 20th century (such as deforestation and putting grasslands under the plough at the turn of the 19th and 20th century and in the first half of the 20th century; collectivization of agriculture in the 1950s; establishment of new non-forest woody vegetation structures in the second half of the 20th century or appearance of uncultivated pastures and arable land in the recent two decades). These are just some of the changes and interventions which have changed and transformed landscape structures and formed the contemporary landscape character and image. Although, the assessment of these structural landscape transformations is very complex, in terms of landscape architecture we can define negative changes (such as decrease in accessibility and connectivity through reduction of roads and tracks in the agricultural landscape or draining the agricultural landscape for production reasons in the 20th century) but also positive changes (such as increasing the portion of woody vegetation in the urban area and open landscape in the 2nd half of the 20th century or improvement of international and national nature and landscape protection in the recent decades - e.g. European Landscape Convention and NATURA 2000). In the context of these landscape transformations and based on analyses of the landscape history and current landscape structures, Green Infrastructure stands for a strategic planning tool with an important potential to address contemporary deficiencies and problems of the landscape, such as the lack of the connectedness of green spaces or the vanished cultural and historical legacy of landscape accessibility and permeability. In this case study, Green Infrastructure can be seen as an instrument for a better implementation of the European Landscape Convention.
Author's perspective
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Landscape and/or urban context of your case
- Biogeography, cultural features, overall character, history and dynamics
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Analytical drawings
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Green Infrastructure benefits for this site
Look again at the multiple benefits of green infrastructure - what could be achieved in your site and which are most relevant?
Potential for multifunctionality
Green infrastructure has typically multiple functions. What could be achieved for your site in this respect?
Projective drawings
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- And how could it look like in 10-15 years?
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Summary and conclusion
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Image Gallery
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References
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