Greenbelt and Green Heart: separating and integrating landscapes in European city regions

Regarding the relationship of city and landscape, two main positions of planning have to be distinguished: at the one side, landscape is seen as a separating element of city and suburbia. According to this view, Greenbelts are designed to protect a compact urban form. At the other side, landscape is seen as a connecting element in city regions, integrating them to regional cities. According to this view, landscape is seen as a Green middle. This article presents two contrasting case studies of planning approaches in European city regions, which represent a reversed relationship of city and landscape: the Regional Parks Berlin–Brandenburg, forming a Greenbelt around the German capital and the Green Heart as a Middle of the Dutch Randstad. In comparing both cases, the conclusion is drawn, that a negative definition of landscape form, which is derived as an urban containment, can hardly be successful to protect open spaces in growing city regions. Instead landscape has to have a positive definition, basing on the uses and perception by people.