Overview

URBAN GreenUP is a project funded under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme. Its objective is the development, application and replication of Renaturing Urban Plans in a number of European and non-European partner cities with the aim to mitigate the effects of climate change, improve air quality and water management, as well as to increase the sustainability of our cities through innovative nature-based solutions. Three runner cities - of Valladolid (Spain), Liverpool (UK) and Izmir (Turkey) – will validate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the URBAN GreenUP methodology. Based on their experience, five follower cities, Mantova (Italy), Ludwigsburg (Germany) Medellin (Colombia), Chengdu (China) and Binh Dinh-Quy Nhon (Vietnam), will set up their own Renaturing Urban Plans to replicate the URBAN GreenUP strategy and its green economy approach. The nature-based solutions that will be implemented during the project cover a variety of complementary yet interconnected aspects of urban life and infrastructures. They are grouped into four main categories: re-naturing urbanization, water interventions, singular green infrastructures and non-technical interventions. Through the implementation of very technical nature-based solutions in large-scale districts, URBAN GreenUP aims at achieving a variety of impacts related with both environmental and socio-economic aspects. URBAN GreenUP will improve life quality in urban areas, raise awareness on the importance of environment preservation among citizens, generate new market opportunities for European companies at international level , foster the creation of transnational networks and synergies. Last but not the least, it will highlight the importance of the local communities’ active participation when addressing climate problems through co-creation activities also directly involving the citizens, who are at the core of their cities’ green regeneration.