Project Description

The main objective of this intervention is to support southern Mediterranean municipalities in the planning and design of green and socially inclusive spaces as a lever for a more climate-resilient urban environment with greater social impact.

NATURIncMed, as a modular project including the following phases:

• NATURIncMed I- October 2024 – October 2026 (with a budget of 300.000 eur)
• NATURIncMed II – January 2026 – June 2027 (with a budget of 100.000 eur)

This project will involve 4 municipalities from Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, which will receive technical support for the identification and design of a project to naturalise a site in each city as a new green and socially inclusive space. In addition, the project will seek to promote strategic planning, as well as learning and knowledge exchanges between the four pilot cities and a group of MedCities Mediterranean municipalities on green and climate-resilient urban planning.

Needs addressed by the project

• Critical climate risk in urban areas of the Mediterranean, the area most affected by the effects of climate change.

• Common and recurrent phenomena: heat island effect in urban areas, temperature increase, lack of water resources that negatively affect living and working conditions in the city.

• Lack of socially inclusive green spaces that help mitigate the impacts of climate change: shaded and convivial spaces that promote quality of life and the environment.

• Lack of technical capacity and resources at the municipal level to implement green infrastructure projects.

Objectives

• Technical assistance for 4 Mediterranean municipalities: participatory diagnosis of needs and future development of the urban context for its renaturation.

• Identification and design of a green infrastructure project which is socially inclusive in each city.

• Promotion of learning and knowledge exchange with a micro-network of Mediterranean municipalities on green and resilient urban planning.

Learning opportunities for participating cities:

• Technical training for each city to support diagnosis and pre-design.

• Technical visit to learn about reference cases in the naturalisation of urban spaces with a social perspective.

• BAMM: Annual Academy for elected officials and technicians from the Mediterranean on sustainable urban development.

Beneficiaries

The four pilot municipalities will benefit from a targeted training and capacity building activities that will focus on strengthening the capacities of municipal staff in relation to strategic issues such as: the identification and formulation of bankable and scalable projects, the use of GIS and data collection for green areas, efficient water management techniques in green areas, urban green management, social inclusion and green spaces, gender perspective in urban planning and public space management, among others. The training will be based on the identification of needs with each beneficiary municipality.

SDGs aligned

The project is linked to and works towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the European Green Deal and especially focuses on SDGs 10, 11, 13 and 17.