The quality, quantity and accessibility of urban greenspaces and green infrastructure offer multiple benefits for city dwellers, the environment and urban sustainability. Green infrastructure provides a wide range of environmental, social, cultural, climate change adaptation, and mitigation benefits. However, for green infrastructure to do so, it needs to be integrated into national policy and city-planning strategies in ways that recognize its value and importance. Consequently, consistency and coherence between policy sectors and levels is essential. The more prominent urban green infrastructure is in national level policy, the easier it will be to ensure coherence and consistency between sectors and levels, as well as avoid national and local initiatives hindering each other's effectiveness. Integrating urban green infrastructure into planning processes should be a priority for all cities, but even more so for those in sub-Saharan Africa, which are undergoing rapid expansion. Here we focus on Malawi, one of the most rapidly urbanizing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. We collated and reviewed national-level and city-level policies and strategies, ranging from housing to transport to biodiversity, in order to determine, based on vertical and horizontal integration processes, whether urban greenspaces and green infrastructure have been incorporated into planning and management priorities. We found little evidence that urban greenspaces and green infrastructure are incorporated into national-level decision-making processes. In contrast, promoting and enhancing urban greenspace and green infrastructure was a priority in planning and strategy documents produced by the Lilongwe and Mzuzu City Councils. Better institutional coordination and policy coherence across national level sectors that affect urban greenspaces and green infrastructure is required if their multiple benefits are to be realized.

中文翻译：

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缺乏跨部门和跨级别政策的连贯性和一致性限制了马拉维城市绿色基础设施的实施

城市绿地和绿色基础设施的质量、数量和可达性为城市居民、环境和城市可持续性提供了多重好处。绿色基础设施提供了广泛的环境、社会、文化、气候变化适应和减缓效益。然而，绿色基础设施要做到这一点，就需要以承认其价值和重要性的方式将其纳入国家政策和城市规划战略。因此，政策部门和层面之间的一致性和连贯性至关重要。城市绿色基础设施在国家层面的政策中越突出，就越容易确保部门和层面之间的连贯性和一致性，以及避免国家和地方举措阻碍彼此的有效性。将城市绿色基础设施纳入规划过程应该是所有城市的优先事项，对于正在快速扩张的撒哈拉以南非洲的城市来说更是如此。在这里，我们关注马拉维，它是撒哈拉以南非洲城市化速度最快的国家之一。我们整理和审查了国家和城市层面的政策和战略，从住房到交通再到生物多样性，以根据纵向和横向整合过程确定城市绿地和绿色基础设施是否已纳入规划和管理重点. 我们几乎没有发现城市绿地和绿色基础设施被纳入国家级决策过程的证据。相比之下，促进和加强城市绿地和绿色基础设施是利隆圭和姆祖祖市议会制定的规划和战略文件的优先事项。如果要实现城市绿地和绿色基础设施的多重效益，就需要在影响城市绿地和绿色基础设施的国家层面加强机构协调和政策一致性。