What is UrbanByNature?
UrbanByNature is a facilitated expertise-sharing and capacity-building programme to empower local governments all around the world to harness the boundless potential of nature for sustainable urban development.
The programme is hosted by the CitiesWithNature platform and has successfully been launched in Brazil, South Korea and the Caucasus as part of the Horizon 2020 project Connecting Nature. CLEVER Cities is expanding UrbanByNature’s global outreach by building bridges with the nature-based solutions communities in China (jointly with Connecting Nature), Latin America and South Eastern Europe.
UrbanByNature's approach and methodology
The UrbanByNature programme builds on relevant urban greening methodologies such as the Green Climate City programme and the Green City Action plan methodology for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
The programme’s methodology follows an integrated planning process with a sequence of seven steps. As such, it accounts for the complex combination of departments, sectors and organisations involved in sustainable urban planning and covers a range of aspects relevant for planning and realising green and blue cities.
UrbanByNature within CLEVER Cities
The UrbanByNature programme is bringing the expertise on NBS for urban regeneration generated within CLEVER Cities to aspiring and established urban nature practitioners and policymakers in China, South America and South Eastern Europe.
Following a kick-off workshop, participants are guided through the programme’s seven steps through a series of facilitated capacity-building webinars tailored to their regions' needs.
Thereby, they are engaging in knowledge exchange and are gaining access to tools, methods and approaches developed by CLEVER Cities’ experts and partners from industry, local authorities, local communities, NGOs and academia.
Registration and YouTube channel
If you want to see the inputs from past activities of the programme, check out the CitiesWithNature’s YouTube channel. To receive updates on webinars and events, fill in the registration form.
UrbanByNature Registration Form
Target audience
- City staff working for Departments of Environment and Greening, Urban Planning, Public Spaces, Public Health, Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Environmental Justice, Sustainable Procurement, etc., as planners or technicians
- Resilience officers
- Policy officers
- Political representatives
- Representatives of international cooperation bodies
- Green entrepreneurs or small and medium enterprises
- Design professionals
- Non-governmental organisations
- Associations
- Driven citizens
- Community leaders
- Researchers and scholars
Benefits
- Exchange with global cities on ambitions, processes, policies, financing options and business approaches on how to solve urban development challenges with urban nature
- Learn how to plan and implement urban green and blue interventions for and with citizens
- Support collective action towards a sustainable, inclusive, healthy and resilient future for cities and towns of all sizes, locations, budgets and capacities
- Gain access to tools, methods and approaches that support the planning and implementation of nature-based interventions
- Strengthen the collective action of local and sub-national governments in moving towards global sustainable development and climate goals such as the United Nations SDGs, the Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
