Liverpool’s URBAN GreenUP project has been awarded a golden trophy for its Climate Resilience submission at the Festival of Place in London. The EU-funded programme ran from 2017-2023 and retrofitted over 40 nature-based solutions across the city to enhance biodiversity and improve air quality. It has also garnered the city international recognition for greening the urban landscape. The project seeks to explore how green (planted) and blue (water) spaces can reduce flooding, lower summer air temperatures, improve well-being, engage communities, and promote economic regeneration to make the city more resilient to climate change impacts.
The Council’s project co-ordinator, Juliet Staples, collected the award which is also up for an AIPH World Green City Award this September. The £3.5m programme, funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 initiative, saw the delivery of various schemes such as three different types of vertical green walls, pollinator roofs, and trees providing sustainable urban drainage, all in a bid to create green corridors. It also involved floating ecosystem islands in the city centre docks system and a park lake, as well as a mobile ‘pop-up’ forest and innovative pollinator spaces and verges in the city.
The URBAN GreenUP project has shown how urban planning can incorporate nature-based solutions to mitigate the impacts of climate change while increasing biodiversity and improving air quality. The recognition received by URBAN GreenUP reinforces the city’s commitment towards achieving a low carbon, climate-resilient environment with green spaces accessible to all. The project demonstrates that it is possible to create green infrastructure in an urban setting, helping to create healthy and livable cities for all.
Liverpool is one of many cities embracing nature-based solutions and is a leading example of how they can be incorporated into urban planning to mitigate climate change impacts, increase biodiversity, and improve air quality. With the success of URBAN GreenUP project, it is hoped that many more cities will adopt this approach to green infrastructure
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