As part of its post-2010 biodiversity policy, the European Commission promoted a strategy for an EU-wide Green Infrastructure (GI) with the aim to provide a framework for integrating GI into sectoral policies, including nature conservation. The underlying idea of this initiative is the recognition of the environment as an infrastructural resource capable of delivering a wide range of ecosystem services.

Regions, cities, and rural areas across Europe and within countries are facing different challenges and opportunities concerning shrinkage. The diversity of processes that determine those challenges and opportunities, depends on the pathways of economic restructuring, on the resilience of local public services and on local initiatives. 

Following their initial agreement on the content of the ESPON 2030 programme as a prerequisite for the submission of the programme to the European Commission for

Controlling the rate of urbanisation, its trajectories, and its consequences have a central role in achieving sustainability for the future of the planet. One of the main objectives to reach long-term sustainability is to densify within already-built urban structures without hampering the environmental value and quality of its surroundings, and ultimately halting the further urbanisation of green areas.

National Peer-Learning Workshops and High Level Policy Conference, January – March 2022

Managing urban growth plays a significant role in achieving sustainability and balancing the trilemma of the environmental, economic and social spheres.

The ESPON seminar aims at discussing “Quality of Life for territorial and citizen-centric policies” bringing together the latest research on the topic and policy challenges. Improving the Quality o

The ESPON seminar aims at discussing “Quality of Life for territorial and citizen-centric policies” bringing together the latest research on the topic and policy challenges.

Today we are publishing three new Policy Briefs that aim to support national, regional and local authorities to improve their planning and support them in the implementation of the European Green D

While European regions and cities slowly emerge from varying degrees of lockdown measures that were imposed to contain the spread of Covid-19, the effects that the sanitary crisis caused are likely