With the growing ambition of cities all around the world to promote urban greenery and water to tackle urban challenges, there is also a growing need to highlight the underlying societal impacts, both positive and negative, such urban plans and strategies can have.

“Re-naturing” cities can, if planned carefully and strategically, strengthen social justice and cohesion amongst diverse urban communities. It can also contribute to better health and well-being, improving the overall quality of life of citizens.

ENABLE, NATURVATION, and GREENLULUS, three European projects working on how cities can be made greener and bluer, whilst ensuring all living there can avail of these urban public spaces physically and benefit from them also in terms of better health, are co-organising an international symposium on this topic in Barcelona (Spain), 13 December 2018.

This free symposium, titled “Beyond re-naturing cities: Integrating social justice and health equity in urban greening”, is an official side event of the 11th International Forum on Urbanism (IFOU) Congress 2018, which looks into reframing urban resilience implementation.

Speakers will include representatives from the City of Barcelona and leading research institutes working on greening cities, who will present their take on making cities greener and more inclusive, the challenges that may arise and how they can be tackled.

The conference programme will be made up of plenary presentations, with the City of Barcelona opening the symposium by highlighting their approach and challenges towards a greener, healthier and more inclusive Barcelona, and roundtable discussions.

The roundtables will focus on the question of social justice, and the advantages, including health impacts, of green and blue cities. Each roundtable will host several experts from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), Humboldt University Berlin (Germany), University of Lodz (Poland) and The New School (USA), who will share their insights. The event will be moderated by ICLEI and IUCN. 

For more information about the event and programme and to register for free for one of the limited seats, click here.