The UNP+ (Enhanced Urban Nature Plans for Biodiversity Mainstreaming in Society) project addresses the urgent need to mainstream biodiversity, ecosystem services, and natural capital into urban planning and governance, in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Nature Restoration Regulation. The project emerges from the recognition that supranational policies have historically overlooked three transformative aspects:
• Importance of bottom-up, city- and community-driven initiatives to complement national strategies.
• Need for methodologies and capacity-building that engage all societal stakeholders, including market actors, citizens, and local governments, in restoring compromised urban ecosystems.
• Continuous development of nature-based solutions (NBS) that bridge biodiversity conservation with social, economic, and technological challenges.
UNP+ brings together 11 academic partners and 5 European cities (as “Lighthouse” and “Greening” testbeds) to co-create, test, and upscale next-generation Urban Nature Plans (UNPs). The project’s pathway to impact is grounded in a whole-of-society approach:
Lighthouse Cities share mature strategies and best practices in urban biodiversity mainstreaming.
Greening Cities co-create or update their Urban Greening Plans, applying lessons learned and new frameworks developed in the project.
By fostering peer-to-peer learning, participatory planning, and reflexive monitoring, UNP+ aims to:
• Identify and disseminate best practices for mainstreaming biodiversity in diverse urban contexts.
• Improve frameworks for participation, social inclusion, monitoring, and regional integration.
• Enable just, fair, and equitable urban renaturing, particularly for marginalized and vulnerable groups.
The scale and significance of expected impacts are substantial:
• Direct transformation of urban and peri-urban ecosystems in participating cities.
• Capacity-building and knowledge transfer to support replication and upscaling across Europe.
• Policy influence at local, national, and EU levels, supporting the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy and Nature Restoration Law.
Integration of social sciences and humanities (SSH) is central to UNP+, ensuring that technical solutions are developed with a deep understanding of social equity, governance, and participatory processes. SSH disciplines contribute to:
• Assessing barriers to fair distribution of benefits.
• Addressing spatial and environmental justice.
• Designing inclusive governance and participatory planning mechanisms.
• Activities Performed and Main Achievements (Technical and Scientific).
