Nordic cities : green, resilient, healthy

As the Nordic countries, like other parts of the world, face a climate emergency, biodiversity loss, and public health challenges (most recently the global COVID-19 pandemic), increasing focus is on the places where most of us live: cities. The need to develop urban environments that are healthy and resilient, and where individuals and communities can thrive, is increasingly recognised by policy makers. At the global level, several Sustainable Development Goals link to the importance of healthy and green living environments, with Sustainable Development Goal 11 specifically addressing cities and calling for universal access to urban green space. Urban ecosystems are a focus area of the new UN Decade of Restoration as well. At the European level, cities are recognised as key deliverers of climate objectives and the EU Green Deal’s call for carbon neutral economies. One of the key mechanisms is to expand natural carbon sinks. The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 is one of the latest documents that stressed the need for greener cities. The EU Forestry Strategy calls for the planting of an additional 3 billion trees, including in and near urban areas. The New European Bauhaus (2021), which calls for beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive forms of living, as well as its specific Nordic adaptation through a process of co-design, also provide an important international framework. The Nordic Vision 2030 links up to these initiatives, reaffirming the Nordic Countries’ global leadership in sustainable urban development:

“The Nordic Region will become the most sustainable and integrated region in the world.”

In this context, this policy brief addresses why urban green spaces (which are considered here as including blue spaces as well) are essential for Nordic cities and citizens. It discusses what types of initiatives and actions can be taken to enhance these spaces and the benefits they provide and sets out directions for initiatives at the national level, as a way of linking international commitments to local level delivery specific to a Nordic context.

source :

https://www.norden.org/en/publication/policy-brief-nordic-cities-green-resilient-healthy