Enhancing Resilience of Urban Ecosystems through Green Infrastructure (EnRoute) : final report

Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) refers to the strategically managed network of urban green spaces and natural and semi-natural ecosystems situated within the boundary of an urban ecosystem. These high-quality, biodiversity-rich areas can help make cities more sustainable and contribute to solve many challenges, such as air pollution, noise, climate change impacts, heat waves, floods and public health concerns. As cities grow and develop, it is vital to improve the availability, quality and accessibility of UGI. Urban planners and decision-makers across Europe are increasingly seeking to integrate UGI, ecosystem services and nature-based solutions into their urban planning processes, but these efforts must be scaled-up further if we are to create more resilient, sustainable and 'livable' cities for future generations. This report summarizes the main outcomes of the EnRoute project. This science-policy project, managed by the European Commission and funded by the European Parliament, involved 18 'city labs' across Europe. The project provided knowledge on how UGI can support urban policy-objectives at different stages of the planning process and at a variety of spatial scales.