Mapping Landscape Potential for Supporting Green Infrastructure: The Case of a Watershed in Turkey

Green infrastructure (GI) is a strategic planning approach that can contribute to solutions for ecological, social, and environmental problems. GI also aims to conserve natural and semi-natural landscapes and enhance ecological networks. Within the scope of spatial planning, urban and rural landscape units can be integrated through GI planning. In this study, we propose a method to calculate the landscape potential and map GI in the lower Büyük Menderes River Basin, Turkey. We used landscape character assessment (LCA) to identify the landscape typology, which was one of the key steps for determining the landscape potential. Three thematic maps were produced and overlaid in ArcMap 10.7. A map showing the spatial distributions of 71 landscape types was created by means of LCA. Then, the landscape types were assessed according to defined criteria, and finally, GI of the study area was mapped. This study found that high-quality landscape types were located in the middle, northern, and eastern parts of the lower Büyük Menderes River Basin, rather than in the protected areas. Moreover, 68 of the 71 landscape types were present in the GI map. The findings show the necessity of including the landscape potential concept in conservation strategies. Thus, this paper provides a reference guideline for mapping GI as a contributor to nature conservation and spatial planning strategies.