The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 calls on all cities over 20,000 people to invest in urban greening by creating an Urban Greening Plan (UGP). While UGPs are only now gaining international prominence, the topic is not new to ICLEI Europe, who contributed to a report outlining the potential impact of such plans and recently piloted a novel design framework: The Urban Greening Plan Guidance and Toolkit.
UGPs stand out from other greening approaches in that they help local authorities integrate existing policies, measures and strategies related to urban greening at all governance levels and across planning departments (e.g., housing, mobility, utilities, and public health). These are no-regret measures that offer cities an actionable and relevant strategy for addressing the impact of climate change, ecological degradation, and biodiversity loss on human health and the environment.
The Urban Greening Plan Guidance and Toolkit was born in 2021, when ICLEI Europe partnered with Eurocities in a service contract for the European Commission. The guidance is the fruit of a year-long consultation process with over 100 key stakeholders from 41 cities representing 16 European countries. The resource provides the background, rationale and key elements to enhance and restore urban nature and biodiversity for the benefit of people and the planet, within a context of political commitment and in partnership with residents and stakeholders.
“Urban Greening Plans are an integrated planning framework that emphasise the important role that nature plays in meeting a city’s development goals. At ICLEI Europe, we hear from cities all the time about competing land use challenges. Cities highlight an increasing need for coordination across sectors like housing, mobility, and urban greening. UGPs have the potential to address these challenges," notes Anna Bruen, Senior Expert for Biodiversity and Nature-based Solutions at ICLEI Europe.
Piloted within the Horizon 2020 Project CLEVER Cities, this guidance is now the core component of a new Horizon Europe project: UGPplus. This project is working with five cities - ICLEI Members Barcelona (Spain), Burgas (Bulgaria), Mannheim (Germany), and Paris (France) as well as Belgrade (Serbia) to test, refine, and enhance the existing guidance. Learn about Quito and Belgrade’s experiences with UGP’s (pg. 20), or read the guidance document here.
What might an urban greening plan look like in your city?