The URBAN GreenUP catalogue of nature-based solutions is now public
URBAN GreenUP has released a nature-based solutions (NBSs) catalogue, which is publicly available on the project’s website. The catalogue aims at fostering the global uptake of the URBAN GreenUP approach by providing cities worldwide with robust indicators on how to embrace urban challenges using nature. URBAN GreenUP is a 5-year initiative that started back in June 2017 and is being funded by the EU Horizon 2020 programme. Its primary goal is to implement tens of different NBSs across its front-runner cities - Valladolid (Spain), Liverpool (UK) and Izmir (Turkey) - which, in turn, will make these cities more sustainable and resilient to climate changes. In collaboration with the five follower cities from Europe and beyond (Mantova in Italy, Ludwigsburg in Germany, Chengdu in China, Medellin in Colombia and QuyNohn in Vietnam), they will replicate the URBAN GreenUP model at a global scale. URBAN GreenUP’s NBSs are grouped into four classes: (1) Renaturing Urbanization, (2) Singular Green Infrastructures, (3) Water Interventions and (4) Non-Technical Interventions. Examples include green cycle and pedestrian routes, floodable parks, electro wetlands, green roofs and facades, as well as citizens' engagement and educational activities. After an introduction on the general concept of NBSs, the catalogue provides a number of cards, with each one describing one of the specific NBSs implemented by URBAN GreenUP. They all cover the different aspects of these solutions such as the technical and graphic details, the urban problems that the NBSs wish to address, the implantation and the amortization. A rich bibliography of the specific NBS is placed at the end of each card for people who wish to go further into the topics. At the end of the catalogue, one can find a review of the academic literature on the different aspects of the NBSs, such as how these solutions will integrate with other kinds of urban interventions, their financial benefits and their role in current political scenarios.
Keywords
green cities, renaturing cities, nature
Countries
China, Colombia, Germany, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom, Viet Nam