The concept of green infrastructure is currently being applied in management of the environmental space of cities, regions and even countries. In Poland this concept is known, as evidenced by increasing number of papers on the subject. The purpose of the article is to determine, whether and to what extent the concept is used in the spatial structure planning of Polish cities. The research was focused on analysing Studies of Conditions and Directions of Spatial Development prepared lately in three Polish cities: Gdańsk, Łódź and Wrocław.

One of the principles of green infrastructure (GI) design is a multi-scale approach. Each scale requires taking into account various, differently aggregated GI building blocks. Eco-spatial indices are an important tool for implementing GI. These planning tools make it possible to define the proportion between built-up areas and blue-green areas of a project site. The Ratio of Biologically Vital Area (RBVA) is an indicator that is widely used in Polish spatial planning practice. The objective of this study was to determine how the RBVA is shaped in existing local spatial plans for single- and multi-family residential areas in 20 small and medium-sized towns, and to analyse whether and under what conditions the ratio used would guarantee the implementation of GI. The subject of the study were 814 local spatial plans of residential areas. The authors applied a document analysis method using the READ approach. In addition, statistical analyses of the data obtained and a detailed analysis of three selected plans were carried out. The most common ratio for multi-family residential areas was found to be at the level of 30%, while for single-family residential areas, it was 40%. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between small and medium-sized towns for single-family residential areas. In turn, considerable differences were observed for multi-family residential areas (RBVA higher in medium-sized towns). The research corroborates that RBVA is a commonly used indicator. However, it guarantees only to a limited extent the possibility of GI implementation at the local scale.