On the 12th and 13th of March 2019, the members of the URBAN GreenUP consortium held their fourth periodic internal meeting to report on the results achieved since the last gathering in Liverpool in July 2018. The meeting took place at the European Office of Local Authorities of Baden-Württemberg in Brussels.
The three URBAN GreenUP’s Frontrunner cities shared very positive updates on the local installation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). In Valladolid, the entire planning phase has been finalised and the 42 local interventions have been defined. The city is currently launching the first tendering processes for the implementation of some NBS, such as the Green canopies in España Square, the Vertical Mobile Gardens and soon the Green façade. Liverpool has extended the boundaries for two of its sub demo areas to now include a key city centre retail area at Liverpool One and a boulevard extension at Princes Avenue. Monitoring data continues to be collected and collated across all sub demo areas to establish baseline information for environmental, social and economic indicators. Similarly to Valladolid, preparations are underway to start the procurement processes for the implementation of the intended NBS, and several of the non-technical interventions are already in progress or completed. Izmir is working on 19 actions which are almost at tendering process. The implementation of parklets has already been launched, and the implementation of the Green Car Park Covering Shelter will start at the end of April.
In the past months, follower cities have also been very active. In particular, in February 2019 Mantova has signed the Covenant of Mayor for climate and energy. The city has also worked on local policies for CO2 reduction and on an adaptation and mitigation plan. Mantova has disseminated a number of Climate change adaptation Guidelines by involving citizens and other departments and sectors of the municipality, such as the Unesco and Culture offices. Medellín is currently working on the general structure of the local renaturing urban plan. Moreover, the hard floor of the Green Corridor Avenida Oriental has been replaced with a soft one and there citizens can enjoy 308 trees, 240 palms and more than 90,000 garden plants. These reduce temperatures and contribute to air quality, providing shade and habitat for different species of insects and birds. Ludwigsburg is developing plans for a green noise barrier to be installed in the city. It is also promoting among companies the positive impact of green infrastructures to boost their investments on green surroundings.
The consortium has also focused on a number of other key activities, such as cities diagnosis and data collection regarding the KPIs used to monitor the impact of the implemented NBS. Other examples are the development of two new inter-city networks for sharing knowledge and of new ways of strategically replicating the successes seen in the frontrunner cities.
The meeting was a great opportunity for partners to exchange on what has been achieved so far and plan their next steps for the creation of more sustainable cities.