The Urban Governance Atlas (UGA) is an interactive online database of over 250 good practice policy instruments that support nature-based solutions and ecosystem restoration. The first of its kind, the Atlas allows users to explore a diversity of different policy instrument types being applied across the world, including:
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legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments,
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economic and fiscal instruments,
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agreement-based or cooperative instruments, and
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knowledge, communication and innovation instruments.
The Atlas particularly focuses on the factors making the instruments successful, lessons learned in their design and implementation, and their approaches to governance, such as stakeholder involvement, institutional arrangements and participatory methods utilised. In parallel, the UGA also provides an opportunity for you and your city promote a selection of policy instruments that have worked well in your local context (please visit this page to find out how to nominate or submit a new policy instrument to feature in the UGA).
The UGA is intended as a resource for government administrations, urban planners and decision-makers; civil society (e.g. community experts or neighbourhood representatives NGOs); the scientific community; development cooperation communities; and technicians, NBS designers and landscape architects.
The Atlas was developed as an output of the INTERLACE project (International Cooperation to Restore and Connect Urban Environments in Latin America and Europe, a Horizon 2020 funded research project) by Ecologic Institute, with support from the INTERLACE consortium and additional external organisations (see Acknowledgements page). The Atlas was first published in Beta format in 2022 and has been revised to its current format in 2023. Additional entries are welcome – please visit this page for more information or reach out to us directly via the contact form.
If you would like to use the information provided in the UGA, please use the following citations:
- Urban Governance Atlas: Urban Governance Atlas (2023). Urban Governance Atlas (UGA). INTERLACE. Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 869324, European Commission. URL: https://interlace-hub.com/urban-governance-atlas
- Specific policy instruments: Urban Governance Atlas (2023). Name of policy instrument. INTERLACE. Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 869324, European Commission. URL: Add website
- Guidance document: Davis, M & Burgos, N (2022). Urban Governance Atlas: Guidance on how to enter a policy instrument. INTERLACE. Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 869324, European Commission, 15 pp.
The UGA has been inspired by and developed to complement the Urban Nature Atlas (UNA, https://una.city/), which is a collection of more than 1000 inspiring nature-based solutions from around the world. The UNA was produced within the Naturvation project (https://www.naturvation.eu/) – with the support of some INTERLACE partners - and focuses on the nature-based solutions themselves. This is an important distinction, as the Urban Governance Atlas focuses on the policy instruments behind nature-based solutions and their governance – not the nature-based solutions themselves.
The Atlas in a nutshell
