Green Cities Framework
Cities of all sizes and types can develop effective strategies for nature-based solutions, allowing them to create innovative and inspiring ways to tackle major urban challenges, such as flooding and heat stress. Embedding nature-based solutions in this way in long-term city planning, development and management will reduce climate impacts, support health and create an attractive environment for citizens, visitors and investments.
The Green Cities Framework takes cities through the different elements of developing a successful strategy for nature-based solutions, ensuring the final outcome is grounded in evidence, co-developed with stakeholders and easy to put into practice. It is a replicable tool and is specifically designed for the distinctive characteristics of nature-based solutions, drawing on the outcomes of GrowGreen.
The Green Cities Framework handbook is available here.
The framework is supported by the GrowGreen Training Programme, which provides tools and resources from GrowGreen, examples of how they have been used in GrowGreen cities, and a selection of existing online resources for each element of strategy development.


Define a vision for your NBS strategy
Set up your local working group
Make your stakeholder and citizen engagement plan
Collaborative design of your stratergy

Review your city’s governance and policy framework
Define and identify climate change-related problems
Assess the current financing available for NBS and additional financing needed
Identify and assess scenarios for NBS implementation

Identify business models for NBS
Develop the financial plan for the strategy
Embed NBS into existing planning instruments
Develop standards and design criteria for NBS procurement

Decide on monitoring and data management
Evaluate, report on and communicate the strategy’s impacts

Collaborative design of your project
The specific training activities that GrowGreen carries out are driven by the priority topics of interest for the cities in GrowGreen, including engaging internal municipal stakeholders, engaging citizens, integrating nature-based solutions into existing urban developments, selecting the right nature-based solution for the problems experienced, financing nature-based solutions, and monitoring and evaluation. Training activities continue on these topics and others of interest to GrowGreen and external cities.
GrowGreen Newsletter December 2022
22.12.2022.
The December 2022 edition of the GrowGreen Newsletter is available here.
Read moreGrowGreen Final Conference “Cities of the future: nature-based solution for resilience in the face of climate change”
24.11.2022.
On the 8th and 9th of November, GrowGreen hosted its final event in Brest (France): “Cities of the future: nature-based...
Read moreGrowGreen Cities posters
23.11.2022.
What did the GrowGreen cities achieved in these 5 years? Have a look! Brest Manchester Modena Wroclaw Zadar Valencia NBS...
Read more