Cities in Europe and beyond who are looking to overcome the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on human wellbeing can now consult a toolkit to guide their sustainable urban transition. The toolkit shares tips about designing and managing urban spaces with people in mind, and putting citizens’ wellbeing at the centre of sustainable development strategies.

The toolkit “How can your city get… to a Human Scale?”, published by the European Green Capital Network (EGCN), shares insights from winners and finalists of the European Green Capital Award – including a number of ICLEI Members – to inspire other cities to aim for high standards of urban living. This Human Scale toolkit illustrates that a city must offer a high quality of life for all to be sustainable and adequately respond to crises.

“From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, cities of all sizes became acutely aware of the need to create more liveable urban environments”, said Florika Fink-Hooijer, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment. “Many European cities already provide their residents with quality areas to live in. The coronavirus outbreak however, further highlighted the advantages of living in cities that are built around the needs of their citizens. These are places that have measures in place to increase proximity to essential services at walking distance, provide residents with easy access to nature-rich green spaces, have invested in a broad array of sustainable forms of transport, enable affordable housing, and above all foster citizen’s health and wellbeing.”

The toolkit features tested and proven solutions from Europe’s sustainability leaders, and examples of ongoing challenges, through transformation stories, video interviews with experts, resources, tips and guidance.

Among its featured case studies, the toolkit shares the transformation journey of ICLEI Member Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) – the European Green Capital in 2012. The municipality faced severe environmental problems at its periphery, such as flooding, biodiversity loss and soil degradation. Still, 98 percent of Vitoria’s residents live within 3km of its famous ‘green belt’, a natural reserve that surrounds the whole city. The city has become a sustainability leader, through efforts to restore ecosystems and create nature-based solutions within Vitoria-Gasteiz’s city centre, and an initiative to increase green mobility and take the streets back from cars.

Other ICLEI Members who contributed to the toolkit are Copenhagen (Denmark), Hamburg (Germany), Lahti (Finland), Strasbourg (France) and Umeå (Sweden).

For more information and to read the whole toolkit, click here.