Manifesto for New Regenerative Cities

The development of the Manifesto, supported by ISOCARP, aims to stimulate the creation and development of urban planning principles for new town projects inspired by documents such as the UN-Habitat Handbook with International Guidelines on Urban and Territorial Planning, among others. The working document will collect case studies and expand conversation with input from different stakeholders.

Sustainable public procurement

ICLEI continues to gain recognition for advancing strategic public procurement. ICLEI’s network of European public authorities that connect, exchange and act on sustainable public procurement recently launched its 2025 Procura+ Awards, recognising the most forward-looking and innovative procurements and tender procedures.

Auckland 2050: Building the Future City

2nd April 2025, Auckland, New Zealand

With greater density and more demands on physical and digital infrastructure, how can Auckland remain a liveable city? An expert panel will share their views and concerns, how processes may need to adapt, and what the future holds for the built environment and those who will build it.

Global Youth Climate Summit

2nd-5th April 2025, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

The Global Youth Climate Summit 2025 will bring together 500 youth from across the Global South and beyond to tackle urgent challenges of climate change. The Summit will offering opportunities to learn from experts and each other while developing solutions to protect biodiversity across all ecosystems—land, water, and air.

European Green Infrastructure Day 2025

24th April 2025, Brussels, Belgium

The fourth edition of the European Green Infrastructure Day will gather in person EU policymakers, urban green infrastructure experts, local authorities and NGOs to discuss how to turn European cities from grey to green, contributing to climate adaptation and water resilience of Europe’s urban areas.

4th World Congress on Forests and Parks for Public Health

21st-24th May 2025, Luxembourg

The 4th World Conference on Forests and Parks for Public Health will explore how forests, city forests, parks and other green spaces should be incorporated to International Organisations policies and goals, and to National Public Health systems, policies, and practices for a Healthy and Sustainable society.

Everyone deserves access to plants

Well-tended greenspaces are not limited to affluent neighbourhoods. The Horticultural Society of New York believes that all urban residents deserve to live in an intentionally-designed environment with a balance of built and natural elements. They have designed, installed, and maintained more than 2,000 gardens and greenspaces throughout New York City. Each one is designed to be an environment in which pollinators, wildlife, and people can flourish.

Nature-based Solutions on the rise in Africa

A report by World Resources Institute reveals that Sub-Saharan Africa is witnessing increased nature-based solutions implementation, with nearly 300 resilience projects securing $21 billion (2012-2023), averaging 15% annual growth (2012-2021). These natural systems can build resilience against hazards like flooding, heat or drought. Critically, they often also produce additional benefits for communities such as creating jobs, boosting farm yields, increasing incomes, protecting biodiversity and more.

Help for cyclists to discover the city’s green spaces

Promoting cycling in cities is enhanced by strategies to make commuting and leisure cycling greener, more enjoyable, and safer. The London Greenground Map – cycling edition is the first schematic city-wide map connecting the National Cycle Network, Cycleways and the extended cycle network to green spaces and waterways. The map is free to download and, at current, the project is supported by voluntary donations.

Italian horticulture showcases urban greenery

AIPH is pleased to approve GreenItaly, an international horticultural exhibition from 15 to 17 October 2025, highlighting the best in sustainable and innovative horticulture. To be held in the PalaVerdi convention centre, GreenItaly 2025 will be showcasing urban greenery and the nursery production of ornamental plants for parks, gardens, and tree-lined avenues.

BdB makes demands of politicians

Bund deutscher Baumschulen e.V. (BdB), representing the German tree nursery industry, demands politicians 'promote public and private investment in green infrastructure, including through an immediate programme for planting new street trees and by obliging public and private developers to invest five per cent of the construction sum in living greenery.' These and other demands are proposed by BdB to guarantee the green infrastructure of the future.

Parque do Barrocal: Nature within the City

Castelo Branco, Portugal

Parque de Barrocal is designed as a museum of nature, alive, dynamic, interactive, educational, and entertaining. The project highlights the ecosystems and their interrelationships, including the importance of preserving natural resources and biodiversity for a healthier, balanced and harmonious future. Construction began in 2018 with it opening to the public in 2020. It is expected that in 2025 it will be visited by 25,000 people.

Conservation and management of biodiversity

Cape Town, South Africa

Biodiversity offsetting is a relatively novel practice in South Africa that has not always been implemented in a defensible and consistent manner. The approach now adopted in the Atlantis Conservation Land Bank and the Metro Southeast Strandveld Conservation Implementation Plan (CIP) is helping to address the shortcomings of biodiversity offset practice in Cape Town. Offsets applied by the City of Cape Town have facilitated industrial and low income housing development while conserving precious biodiversity.

Trees as part of the landscape and lives

With an increasing number of tree-based restoration projects taking place it is important to understand the range of impact trees outside of forests have on people’s lives and livelihood. This systematic review examined 325 articles to identify the common themes, challenges and opportunities of tree planting and human wellbeing in South Asia.

Transforming teaching on plants

A review of over 100 studies found that plant species education is better quality when students engage with memorable and meaningful experiences with plants. Outdoor and classroom based learning with opportunities such as growing, eating and caring for plants is amongst the researchers' recommendations.

Design guide for rich biodiversity

Following the publication of the West Midlands Combined Authority report on Brownfield habitats and BNG, WMCA has launched a Design Guide to help practitioners (ecologists, landscape architects, developers and local planning authorities) create new habitats that meet the needs of mandatory BNG.

The interactive design guide showcases best practice for designing and creating high quality urban green infrastructure that incorporates the important features and functions of open mosaic habitat and biodiverse brownfield sites.

Unlocking the potential of a nature-positive, circular economy for Europe

This study from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation focuses on Europe’s built environment and explores how a nature-positive circular economy in the sector can unlock a huge economic opportunity for the continent, increasing resilience, competitiveness and the vibrancy of its cities. A true circular economy is nature-positive by design and offers a pathway to a resilient economy and better outcomes for individuals and society. By harnessing the power of nature and shifting from a resource-intensive model to one that gradually decouples economic activities from the consumption of finite resources, the circular economy can deliver benefits across sectors and help meet climate and biodiversity targets.