Nature-based solutions in cities offer benefits for the environment, for people and for the economy. But cities often find it challenging to fund their implementation and maintenance. To understand how cities can mobilise investment in nature-based solutions in advance of the EU conference on innovative financing for creating green cities, GrowGreen talked to Louise Wilson,...

It seems so long ago now. A conversation with Jonny Sadler from the Manchester Climate Change Agency, about the possibility of the City of Manchester’s involvement with a new EU project looking at demonstrating how scientific knowledge of urban ecosystems and green infrastructure (GI) could support the development of policy at different spatial scales. This...

26th – 27th March 2019 Manchester City Football Club, Manchester, UK Green cities are healthy, liveable and resilient to climate and water risks. Investing in nature-based solutions helps cities to tackle flooding, heat stress, drought, poor air quality and unemployment, and helps biodiversity to flourish. Despite increasing awareness of the many benefits of nature-based solutions,...

On December 12th 2018, the partnership between Wuhan and Manchester City was selected as the final winner at the EU-China City-City partnership awards ceremony of the Horizon 2020 China-Europe Sustainable Urbanisation Innovation Platform, held in Beijing and jointly organised by the China-Europe Sustainable Urbanisation Innovation Platform Project Team, China Urban and Small Town Reform and...

Worldwide out of the 47 megacities, China alone counts 17. These are cities with a population in excess of 10 million people. Today over half of the Chinese mainland population lives in cities. Towards 2030, China aims for 70% of its population, about 900 million people, to live in cities. Such numbers can be mindboggling...

In September, GrowGreen partners Manchester Climate Change Agency and IUCN hosted a workshop on designing and implementing nature-based solutions at the URBACT City Festival in Lisbon.  Through examples from Bologna (IT), Manchester (UK) and Stavanger (NO),  participants explored the contributions nature-based solutions can make to creating healthy, liveable, climate resilient and sustainable cities. These cities understand...