This workshop aims for strengthening synergies between the EU Urban Agenda, the EU research agenda on Nature Based Solutions and the potential of Urban Green Infrastructure. We will show and discuss the potential of using spatially explicit data for evidence based local policymaking. Thus enhancing the awareness for and acceptance of nature based solutions and green infrastructure in the local policy arena.

The Netherlands and the European Commission/JRC have recently carried out a study amongst some EU member States on the policies, data and indicators that are currently used at a local level regarding Green Infrastructure. We also inventoried the needs that local communities/cities express with regards to urban green infrastructure. On May 31 we will present the results of our study, whose main objective is to draw lessons on how to map urban green infrastructure and ecosystem services, with a view to ease their inclusion in policy setting. We want to discuss with you how to build further on these results.

We want to bring cities and other relevant stakeholders (policy-makers, urban planners, landscape architects, etc.) throughout Europe together to exchange knowledge and experience. In order to feed the results of our findings in the networks of cities, national governments and science.

The workshop “Evidence based policy making for sustainable cities” will be hosted by the city of Utrecht and the government of The Netherlands, in close cooperation with the European Commission, in the light of the Dutch EU presidency in 2016.