Greenways as an Integrated Urban Planning and Design Strategy: A Case Study of Charlotte Metropolitan USA

Abstract

As a multi-purpose green network, greenways are important linear outdoor spaces to promote healthy living in urban areas. Well-planned greenways along with other open spaces connect homes, schools, and commercial centres and link other functional urban spaces together to produce a desirable urban form that increases market values, enhances storm water management, and improves the overall quality of residents’ lives. This paper takes the greenway system in the Charlotte metropolitan in the south-eastern United States as an example to analyse its planning and construction processes over the past four decades. In particular, this paper discusses and summarizes the implementation strategies of greenway development as a catalyst for sustainable development of urban form. These strategies are focused on multiple benefits of greenways in promoting urban development, optimizing urban spatial structure, promoting healthy urban living, and improving ecological functions in the built environment.