Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan - Barcelona

Screenshot of Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan

The city of Barcelona in Spain released its Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan in 2013, aiming to enhance its urban green spaces network and increase resilience in light of future challenges like climate change. The plan covers the period from 2013 to 2020 and sets out to preserve and enhance the natural heritage of the city and prevent species and habitats from disappearing, while significantly increasing green infrastructure and ensuring its connectivity. A further objective is to ensure that nature in the city is not limited to isolated spots, but is rather joined to forge a network of green spaces ('green infrastructure') which serves environmental and social functions. The plan includes a comprehensive diagnosis of green infrastructure and biodiversity, which serve as a basis for its strategic actions. Over the years, the plan has been complemented by further dedicated instruments for sustainable urban planning such as the Barcelona Tree Master Plan 2017-37 to transform the strategy's overarching goals into concrete actions and the launch of a Stimulus Programme for the City’s Urban Green Infrastructure in 2017, shifting budget allocation towards capital investment. In 2020, the City of Barcelona published the Nature Plan up to 2030 which can be seen as successor to this Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Dedicated strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Heat stress and heat island effect
Air quality
Noise
Social cohesion
Social equity
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The goals of the Barcelona Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan address different aspects of connectivity of green infrastructure and the renaturalisation of the city, including: (1) preserving and enhancing the natural heritage of the city and preventing species and habitats from disappearing, (2) achieving the maximum amount of green infrastructure and ensuring its connectivity, (3) obtaining the maximum number of social and environmental services from green infrastructure and biodiversity, (3) making progress in educating society to place greater value on green infrastructure and biodiversity, and (4) making the city more resilient in the face of future challenges such as climate change. The plan is organized into ten strategic lines (e.g. Line 1 on preserving the city’s natural heritage) which are defined in terms of priority actions. As an example, one priority action is to develop biodiversity preservation protocols for areas of major interest and to implement associated guidelines. Green corridors along roads are also addressed in the plan, seen to not only have a high density of vegetation but also to separate pedestrians and bicycles from heavy traffic. These green streets are interlinked throughout the city, creating an urban network of green areas that encourage social and ecological connectivity.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Allotments, community gardens or agricultural areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Support multifunctional NBS

Sustainable in the long-term

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Councillor of Environment and Urban Services - Urban Habitat. Barcelona City Council

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The design of the plan was initiated and overseen by the City of Barcelona. Several groups of stakeholders, including the city council, social and environmental organisations, researchers, financial sector representatives and local and regional public authorities were involved in a participatory processes throughout the design stage. Their participation in several meetings helped to verify the diagnosis on green infrastructure and biodiversity, to agree on long-term challenges and goals and to gather proposals on biodiversity and green infrastructure to be included in the plan. Within this process, a SWOT analysis was conducted to help identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to green infrastructure and biodiversity in the city. Based on this, a shared diagnosis was specified which led to the formulation of particular challenges. Findings served as the foundation to define visions, goals and lines of actions in a participatory process.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private sector, corporate, business

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

Public participation is foreseen to implement a few actions of the plan. For example, brainstorming competitions for citizens are foreseen in the design of city green spaces as well as the involvement of schools, associations and the community to improve and diversify children’s playgrounds. Also, the plan specifically encourages civil society to become involved in creating green spaces in the private sphere, e.g. by creating green roofs on private buildings supported by experts.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public regional budget

Public local authority’s budget

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

The total costs of the implementation of the Strategy are not known. The Strategy was supported by the launch of a Stimulus Programme for the City’s Urban Green Infrastructure in 2017, shifting budget allocation towards capital investment. One action of the plan is to engage economic stakeholders to enter sponsorship programmes for the conservation of green infrastructure and biodiversity.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

The priority actions do not include specific targets. However, the plan included a monitoring system with indicators to assess the degree to which the plan's goals are met. The monitoring system consists of a regular assessment of the degree of achievement (in percent) of the tasks set out in the action plan.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

Concrete results of the plan include the creation of green corridors, such as the Passeig de Sant Joan, which was one of the first green corridors implemented. Actions included renovating the promenade by planting trees and shrubs and installing permeable green paving, benefiting local biodiversity and urban resilience, e.g. by decreasing heat islands. The green boulevard that was created benefits pedestrians and expands urban green space, revitalizes the neighborhood and, in doing so, supports small vendors and tourism. More generally, the city's efforts which are expressed in the plan are being recognized internationally. Barcelona was elected as the ‘European Forest City 2022’ by the European Forest Institute due to its efforts to manage green infrastructure in a sustainable way.

Success factors and lessons learned:

Generally, the plan is recognized as a successful example for a strategy that integrates the geography and local characteristics but also the needs and preferences of citizens into the urban restoration process. The city council worked together with citizens, social and environmental initiatives and researchers to understand and take into account their different perspectives. The resulting diagnosis of Barcelona's urban green infrastructure, which is at the core of the plan, has been conducted with major involvement of different stakeholders. It is also based on a rigid methodology, ensuring that its results are reliable and generally accepted. Overall, this participatory and inclusive process of conducting the diagnosis qualifies as a good practice of co-designing a strategic policy instrument. Due to the overarching character of the Plan, there was a need for more concrete guidance on reaching the outlined goals and targets. Hence, accompanying plans like the Barcelona Tree Master Plan 2017-37 or the 2017 and Stimulus Programme for the City’s Urban Green Infrastructure were important to break down the overarching ambition of the plan into concrete measures and provide a sound financing architecture.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Ajuntament de Barcelona (2013). Barcelona Green Infrastructure and Biodiversity Plan. Available at: https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ecologiaurbana/sites/default/files/Barcelona%20green%20infrastructure%20and%20biodiversity%20plan%202020.pdf (Accessed 28 June 2022)

Urban Nature Atlas (2021). Urban Green Corridor. Passeig de Sant Joan. Available at: https://una.city/nbs/barcelona/urban-green-corridor (Accessed: 21 April 2022)

The Institute for European Environmental Policy - IEEP (2016). The Health and Social Benefits of Nature and Biodiversity Protection. Available at: https://ieep.eu/uploads/articles/attachments/a3bda50b-7885-403b-a135-0ec2337b70b8/Workshop_Summary_-_Health_and_Social_Benefits_of_Nature_sent_for_approval.pdf?v=63664509946 (Accessed 28 June 2022)

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ecologiaurbana/sites/default/files/Barcelona%20…

Photos

@Ayuntamiento de Barcelona