City Partners

Seven cities are formal partners of Grown Green. These cities all have complex challenges associated with climate resilience, as well as a range of social, economic and environmental problems.

Demonstration projects are designed and implemented in four Frontrunner Cities – Manchester (UK), Valencia (Spain), Wroclaw (Poland) and Wuhan (China). Wuhan is a rapidly developing city and is part of the pilot phase of the Chinese Sponge Cities Programme.

The European Frontrunner Cities are paired with the Follower Cities: Brest (France), Zadar (Croatia) and Modena (Italy), which face similar climate risks:

• Manchester is paired with Brest (France), having mainly water management risks and some heat risks;
• Valencia is paired with Zadar (Croatia) – these cities both have mainly heat management risks and some water risks;
• Wroclaw is paired with Modena (Italy), as they have both water and heat management risks.

Each city will work with their paired city, which will enhance capacity and expertise for developing and implementing city NBS strategies.

A further six replication cities are directly supported by Grow Green, although not as formal partners. These cities will be supported in their development and funding of city NBS strategies, and will provide additional insight for the outputs of Grow Green. Through involvement with various city networks, including Eurocities, Chines Sponge Cities and 100 Resilient Cities, numerous other cities will be indirectly supported through Grow Green’s outputs.