Urban Green Infrastructure and Climate Resilience in a Heritage City: The Case of Salamanca (Spain)

Cities are currently facing increasing challenges related to climate change, demographic pressure, and urban expansion. In this context, urban resilience has emerged as a strategic approach to anticipate, withstand, and adapt to environmental and social disturbances. The city of Salamanca, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has implemented several green infrastructure strategies and climate adaptation initiatives, including the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategy (EDUSI Tormes+), the Special Plan for the Protection of Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity (PEPIVB), and the programs SAVIA Red Verde Salamanca and LIFE Vía de la Plata. This study assesses the contribution of these initiatives to urban governance focused on response capacity by examining their level of implementation and the coherence among different municipal planning instruments. The analysis reveals that the municipal green infrastructure framework is explicitly planned and strategically designed with the objective to mitigate the urban heat island effect, regenerate the urban fabric, and establish structural pathways targeted to foster local biodiversity pathways. Overall, the results provide evidence that nature-based territorial management instruments can strengthen the adaptive capacity of heritage cities to climate change, offering a replicable model for other territories with similar characteristics.