Perspective and approach 245broadly, planning that heads off crises and creates positive trajectories and lega-
cies for the region is good economics.
Aland-use framework that spatially arranges nature and people so they both
thrive long term is the focus (Forman 2002a). In contrast to legal and regulatory
approaches that can and do change ‘‘overnight,” this spatial approach tends to
provide a longer-term future for the region. Indeed, when the public sees, uses,
and understands the value of certain land and its arrangement, degrading or
transforming it is less likely. Also, rather than doing separate plans for each
sector (e.g., transportation, housing, water) and then trying to mesh them, land
areas and natural systems, often with several uses for society, are the fundamen-
tal pieces to fit together to form the completed puzzle. Finally, flexibility and
adaptability to provide stability in the face of big changes and surprises ahead
remain an underlying planning thread.
Urban planning traditionally enhances the quality of people’s life and pro-
motes intelligent growth, whereas conservation planning protects the natural
systems and nature that people depend on, use, and value (Noss and Cooperider
1994,Dailey and Ellison2002,Opdamet al.2002). No model or case study was
found that sustains the diverse natural resources and nature in the region
around a major city. A new strategic approach is needed to mesh both halves,
people and nature, and create a whole. The Barcelona project thus targets and
highlights the gaping hole or weakest link in current urban-region thinking,
i.e., nature and diverse natural systems for people.
In essence, theobjective of the planning projectis to outline promising spatial
arrangements and solutions that enhance natural systems and associated human
land uses for the long-term future of the Greater Barcelona Region.
Land mosaic with distinctive features, the Greater Barcelona Region
Land-mosaictheory and principles focus on the spatial arrangement of
land uses in large heterogeneous areas such as landscapes, regions, or the area
seen from an airplane window or in an aerial photograph, exactly the right spa-
tial scale for effective planning (Chapter1). The landscape or region exhibits
three broad characteristics: structure (the spatial pattern or arrangement of
land uses present), function (the movement or flows of water, materials, species,
and people through the pattern), and change (the dynamics or transformation
of pattern over time) (Forman1995,Farina2005,Gutzwiller2002). The land
mosaic or structural pattern is conveniently reduced to only three types of
elements: patches, corridors, and a background matrix. Patches are large or
small, dispersed or clustered, and so on. Corridors are narrow or wide, con-
tinuous or disconnected, etc. The matrix is single or subdivided, perforated or
dissected, and so forth. Adding a housing development, a nature reserve, or a
highway, for example, changes the mosaic pattern, with movements and flows