Innovation, green infrastructures and urban form. Towards regenerative city models

In the contemporary global context, characterized by increasing environmental pressures, demographic asymmetries, and socio-economic fragmentation and structural inequalities, the relationship between urban form, ecosystem services, and territorial innovation acquires unprecedented strategic value. This Special Issue intends to critically explore and foster a new interdisciplinary debate aimed at rethinking the urban project within a framework of regenerative and systemic transformation. Historically, cities have developed through a complex co-evolution of built forms and ecological systems. The integration between public spaces, green infrastructures, and urban morphology has not only structured the spatial configurations of the urban fabric but also supported green and blue infrastructures and multiple ecosystem services (Tzoulas et al., 2007; Valente et al., 2020; Salmond, 2016). In fact, the study of the relationship between the natural and artificial components of human settlements and how this relationship can give rise to interesting processes of urban morphogenesis is of relevance today. Yet, in many contexts, such integration has occurred incidentally, without being embedded in organic and strategic planning and design visions. Thus, it should not be forgotten that a part of the international urban planning community began reflecting on this topic many years ago, following research in urban and environmental ecology (Commoner, 1971). The ecosystem approach to the analysis and planning of the modern city finds its roots in the debate that emerged, particularly in Europe, between the late 1980s and early 1990s. T