The URWAN project (Urban Regenerative Water Avant-garde(N)) co-financed by Interreg Euro-MED Programme has officially launched its Transfer Phase, marking the start of a new stage aimed at sharing the project’s Nature-based Solutions (NbS) with additional Mediterranean municipalities. The kick-off meeting (KoM), held online on 21 July 2026, brought together the entire URWAN partnership, with representatives from all partner organisations in attendance.

URWAN addresses the critical link between urban regeneration and resources, harnessing the potential of nature-based solutions to integrate water management with climate change adaptation. The project promotes green living areas in Mediterranean cities, in line with the Interreg Euro-MED specific objective RSO2.4 on climate change adaptation and disaster risk prevention.

A widened partnership for a new phase.

The Transfer Phase, coordinated by Lead Partner ANCI Lazio (Regional Association of Italian Towns in Lazio), welcomes new partners to the URWAN consortium, including the Regional Centre for Development and Cooperation (RCDC, Albania), the MUSOL Foundation (Spain), the University of Patras (Greece) and the Energy and Environment Agency of Arrábida (ENA, Portugal), alongside long-standing partners IRIDRA, SVIMED, MedCities and others. During the meeting, all partners aligned on the project’s common methodology, tools, deadlines and next steps, laying the groundwork for a coordinated roll-out of the URWAN approach to new territories.

Sharing tested tools and proven results.

At the heart of the Transfer Phase is the URWAN Enabler Pack, a set of free tools developed and tested during the project’s first phase to help municipalities plan and implement urban NBS. The pack includes multilingual Training Kits, the URWAN NBS Catalogue – covering 20 nature-based solutions classified as “water snob” or “water smart” – the Start Park participatory co-design methodology, and the URWAN Checklist, a decision-support tool for successful NBS implementation.

These tools have already delivered measurable results in the project’s pilot cities. In Cuba (Portugal), Rome (MedCities member city) and Ferla (Italy), Sarajevo (MedCities member city) and Ptuj (Slovenia), the URWAN approach has produced six urban master plans incorporating NBS, trained more than 225 people, and engaged over 900 citizens and stakeholders through participatory Start Park processes.

Over the coming months, the partnership will identify and onboard new “receiver” territories, adapt the Enabler Pack for transfer, and launch the URWAN School to build local capacity. New Start Park co-design processes and territory-specific roadmaps will follow, with the first results expected by the end of 2027. The partnership will also take part in the Interreg Euro-MED mid-term event in Marseille in November 2026, and will reconvene in person in Sicily in the coming months.

“The full participation of every partner in this kick-off meeting confirms the strength and commitment of the URWAN partnership as we move into this new, ambitious phase of sharing what we have built with more Mediterranean cities.” – Andrea Vignoli, URWAN Project Coordinator, ANCI Lazio

About URWAN

URWAN (Urban Regenerative Water Avant-garde(N)) is a project co-funded by the European Union through the Interreg Euro-MED Programme. It brings together partners from Italy, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania to promote nature-based solutions for climate-resilient, water-smart Mediterranean cities. The project is led by ANCI Lazio (Regional Association of Italian Towns in Lazio).