How Far Does the Concept of a Green Belt Have Continuing Relevance in the 21st Century?

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Definitions, Purposes & History of Green Belt
Green belt or greenbelt is defined as an area that is reserved for undeveloped or agricultural land to protect the urban areas of large cities. It is an essential element of national planning policy to control the development of urban areas. Green belt is usually laid out in Local Plan by local planning authorities (Green Belt UK Politics, 2009).
Green belt have a series of significant purposes or functions for improving the life quality of humans. For natural environmental aspect, it could protect natural environment, and, to some extent, improve air quality of urban areas. In addition, protecting habitats for wild animals is another function. Green belt provides open space for urban population to access to fresh air. For planning aspect, it is helpful to prevent urban sprawl. Furthermore, the unique character of urban areas, such as the historic towns, could be kept by setting up a green belt. And rural areas are separated from urban areas by green belt. It is aimed at preventing neighbouring towns merging into one another as well (Naturenet, 2007).
The concept of green belt could be dated back to the ancient time. In UK, the first green belt was built by Elizabeth I of England to prevent the spread of plague around the City of London. However, the first true meaning of green belt was not proposed until 1930s. It is known as Metropolitan Green Belt, which is located around London. Since then, it seemed that green belts started to be essential in urban planning. Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and some other groups push the implementation of green belt policy in UK.

Benefits of Green Belt
Green belt has been proved that people are benefited from the constructio...

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...ble at: http://www.politics-greenbelt.org.uk/criticism-and-disadvantages-of-green-belt-policy.html [Accessed: 6 Dec 2013].
Quilty-Harper, C. 2012. Interactive map: England's green belt - Telegraph. [online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/planning/9708387/Interactive-map-Englands-green-belt.html [Accessed: 6 Dec 2013].
Politics-greenbelt.org.uk. 2009. Benefits of Green Belt Policy. [online] Available at: http://www.politics-greenbelt.org.uk/benefits-of-green-belt-policy.html [Accessed: 7 Dec 2013].
Fawcett, T. 2010. Green Belts: A greener future (summary) - Campaign to Protect Rural England. [online] Available at: http://www.cpre.org.uk/resources/housing-and-planning/green-belts/item/1955-green-belts-a-greener-future-summary [Accessed: 8 Dec 2013].
Amati, M. 2008. Urban green belts in the twenty-first century. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.

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