The GREEN SURGE project (Green Infrastructure and Urban Biodiversity for Sustainable Urban Development and the Green Economy) aimed to create a robust evidence base for Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) planning by linking green spaces, biodiversity, people, and the green economy.
Its primary goal was to address major urban challenges (land use conflicts, climate change, demographic shifts, health/wellbeing) through the innovative development and testing of UGI concepts, governance, and valuation methods.
🎯 Main Objectives and Three-Tier Approach
The project focused on three interlinked objectives, implemented through an integrative, iterative, and transdisciplinary process:
- UGI as a Planning Concept: Develop UGI as a planning concept to integrate and promote biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESS), adapting it to local contexts.
- Biocultural Diversity (BCD) and Governance: Apply the innovative Biocultural Diversity (BCD) perspective to develop governance arrangements that facilitate socio-ecological integration and local engagement in UGI planning.
- Valuation and Market Integration: Explore how valuation and real market integration of biodiversity and ESS can favor the development of multifunctional green spaces.
Three-Tier Approach
GREEN SURGE structured its research and implementation across three tiers:
| Tier | Focus | Activity | Cities Involved |
| Tier 1 | Comparative Analysis (Evidence Base) | Pan-European analysis of ESS supply/demand, green space structure, BCD, and UGI planning/governance across 20 functional urban areas. | 20 European Cities |
| Tier 2 | Good Practices (In-depth Study) | Scanning and in-depth analysis of innovative approaches to UGI planning, governance, valuation, and market integration. | Selective cases from Tier 1 |
| Tier 3 | Urban Learning Labs (ULLs) | Application and testing of good practices, methods, and tools using the Learning Alliance (LA) approach for shared learning with local stakeholders. | Bari, Berlin, Edinburgh, Ljubljana, Malmö |
💡 Key Results and Conceptual Achievements
1. Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) and Ecosystem Services
- Multifunctional UGI: Identified key elements of multifunctional UGI (e.g., parks, woodlands, green roofs, community gardens) and provided evidence on the ESS and benefits they generate.
- Supply and Demand: Shed light on the balances and imbalances between supply and demand of ecosystem services in different European urban areas.
- Classification: Developed a novel classification of UGI based on synergies and trade-offs in ESS delivery, helping to understand how different green space types interact to support human wellbeing.
2. Biocultural Diversity (BCD)
- Conceptual Framework: Developed a conceptual framework for applying BCD in a Western urban context, which is crucial for understanding the integration between biological variety (BD) and the cultural specificities of UGI users.
- The framework has three pillars: 1) how people value, perceive, and use BD; 2) cultural mechanisms and practices that maintain this diversity (stewardship); and 3) transdisciplinary research involving multiple knowledge sources.
- Empirical Findings: A large-scale field survey ($n=3,800$) in the ULLs found that a wide range of urban dwellers explicitly value high biodiversity levels and that medium/high BD areas contribute to good living conditions.
3. Valuation and Green Economy
- Integrated Valuation: Identified mechanisms for unlocking cash flows from urban green spaces and emphasized integrating different approaches (monetary and non-monetary) to value urban ESS.
- Methods and Tools:
- Developed and mapped models of hedonic pricing to analyze property prices in relation to green space quality.
- Created an innovative multi-criteria evaluation framework in the form of a do-it-yourself guideline for integrated valuation.
- Developed a learning module/cardboard game for policy- and decision-makers on integrated valuation.
📚 Project Legacy
- Synthesis and Handbook: Produced a comprehensive report for policy makers (D8.5) and a Handbook (Manual) for UGI Planning (D1.3), which compiles findings, policy briefs, and guidelines tailored for practitioners.
- Learning Alliances (LAs): The ULLs, using the LA approach, ensured the “social robustness” of the project by securing the commitment of local authorities and fostering a process of shared learning and understanding among diverse stakeholders.
- Knowledge Brokerage: Work Package 8 focused on knowledge brokerage and dissemination, including coordinating a European Learning Alliance to spread the project results.
