Traditional urban green planning often relies on per-capita indicators, overlooking the spatial distribution of ecosystem service (ES) and socio-demographic inequalities. This study presents a geospatial framework developed for the Green Plan of Cento (Italy), integrating ES assessment, landscape ecology and environmental justice to support urban green planning.

The framework combined three analyses: (i) biophysical modelling of key regulating ES, including flood mitigation, air depuration (PM₁₀ and O₃ removal) and heatwave mitigation; (ii) assessment of urban green infrastructure connectivity; and (iii) evaluation of compliance with the 3-30-300 rule. To account for environmental justice aspects, the outputs of these analyses were integrated with a socio-demographic Risk Factor (RF) representing vulnerable population groups.

The results highlighted a “private–public green paradox”, whereby compliance with visual greenness targets was mainly driven by private gardens, while shortcomings remained in public canopy cover and accessibility to green spaces. Results also support the hypothesis that habitat fragmentation and spatial isolation were associated with lower levels of regulating ES, underlining the importance of connectivity within urban green infrastructure.

Combining ES assessments with socio-demographic vulnerability allowed the identification of priority areas for intervention and the definition of Nature-based Solutions adapted to local conditions. Connectivity metrics and 3-30-300 compliance mapping were also used to identify areas where new public green spaces could improve accessibility and ES provision.

The framework was directly applied to support planning decisions within the municipal Green Plan. The proposed approach provides a transparent and replicable method for integrating ES, environmental justice and green infrastructure planning in support of climate adaptation and more equitable urban environments.