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Gearing up for Nature in the City — Advancing Social Impact through Nature-based Solutions

From its start, the CLEVER Cities project had a clear mission: to increase local knowledge of nature-based solutions (NbS) that work for and with people and communities. Central to this objective is CLEVER’s commitment to building on data and information for EU policy and ultimately using this powerful base to encourage the uptake of NbS in urban planning across the globe.

This is why it is only fitting that CLEVER’s final conference is, in turn, an event by and for the nature-based community. CLEVER Cities is excited to kick off the Nature in the City- Advancing Social Impact through NbS conference today in Hamburg, Germany. The event takes place 26th and 27th, with an optional welcome keynote today on Sept. 25th, and the local NbS site visits on Sept. 28thThe event dives into the social and environmental impact potential of nature-based solutions through 4 streams of discussion:

• Proof of social impact
• Finance and Business
• Mainstreaming NbS
• Co-creation

Sessions will centralise around these four main themes, which are each important elements of NbS uptake and replication. Interactive workshops, presentations, and panels will highlight enablers and barriers to co-creating community driven NbS, leveraging real life examples from around the world. Sessions will be hosted by a wide range of starting, ending, and ongoing EU projects. By sharing case studies and best practices from various cities, the sessions will explore various funding sources and business models for NbS, mainstream NbS into policy and planning activities, and contribute to social acceptance and awareness of NbS through citizen involvement.

Though it is bittersweet to reach the end of CLEVER, it is clear through the emphatic collaboration from the many session collaborators, that lessons learned from CLEVER will carry on to other initiatives and this knowledge will drive a new era of effective NbS implementation in urban areas worldwide.

You can stream sessions and check out the research and civic action work of participants on our Conference Event Page.

Location Nature in the City — Advancing Social Impact through NbS Conference Hamburg – Wälderhaus