BIO-LINK

BIO-LINK: Biophilic Urban Transformation

Addressing the Challenge

Across European cities, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) continue to be implemented predominantly as isolated, project-based interventions, rather than as integrated solutions embedded within broader urban development, regeneration and renovation processes. At the same time, cities have become increasingly dense, impermeable, and complex, while progressively losing their connection to natural systems and to the wider territory. This growing disconnection limits the capacity of urban environments to benefit from ecosystem services and affects both resilience and quality of life. There is therefore a pressing need to re-establish a functional relationship with nature, one that goes beyond aesthetics and positions nature as an active partner in urban development. Cities today have the responsibility to combine what society does best: innovation, governance, technology, and capacity with what nature provides best ecosystem services in order to enhance wellbeing and urban resilience.

This systemic disconnection from nature is reflected in three key areas. Firstly, there is a lack of integrated approaches within municipal governance, where departments continue to operate in silos and NBS are often perceived as secondary or complementary solutions rather than as efficient, high-return investments aligned with sustainable development priorities. As a result, NBS are rarely embedded in planning processes or systematically linked to regeneration, renovation, or development projects. Secondly, there is a lack of effective mechanisms to engage the private sector, including insufficient public-private partnership models, incentives, and capacity-building efforts that would support the adoption of NBS as standard practice. This leads to fragmented implementation and inconsistent uptake. Thirdly, communities remain largely disconnected from nature, interacting with it mostly at the level of perception and landscape appreciation, rather than through understanding, stewardship, and active participation in ecological processes.

Proposed Approach and Main Scope

In response to these challenges, the project proposes a shift from isolated Nature-Based Solutions towards a systemic transformation of cities into biophilic urban systems. In this context, a biophilic city is understood as a city that integrates nature into all aspects of urban development spatial planning, environmental performance, and social life working with natural processes to improve microclimate, enhance biodiversity, and support community wellbeing. The network will bring together cities to co-develop and test practical solutions, using the URBACT method of transnational exchange, co-creation, and integrated planning to move from concepts to implementation.

The approach focuses on three key aspects. First, it aims to embed Nature-Based Solutions into everyday urban development processes, ensuring they are not treated as standalone projects but as standard components of regeneration, renovation, and new investments. Second, it seeks to transform governance and investment systems, by restructuring administrative processes and introducing tools such as green budgeting and green labelling, so that public investments systematically support environmental objectives. Third, it promotes collaboration and capacity building across sectors, strengthening cooperation between public authorities, private actors, and communities to co-design and implement solutions.

Overall, the project’s main objective is to build the capacity of cities to plan, finance and deliver integrated urban solutions that work with nature, while generating practical, transferable knowledge that can support other cities in adopting similar approaches.