About GoGreenRoutes

Making nature healthy again is key to our physical and mental well-being

GoGreenRoutes is a €10.5m EU-funded project sowing the seeds for increased nature-connectedness across Europe, Latin America and China.

Its multidisciplinary consortium of 40 organisations is pairing participatory approaches and citizen science with Big Data analyses and digital innovation to co-create "Urban Well-being Labs" in six “Cultivating Cities”: Burgas (Bulgaria), Lahti (Finland), Limerick (Ireland), Tallinn (Estonia), Umeå (Sweden) and Versailles (France).

These pioneering cities are implementing “nature-based solutions” such as green corridors, linear parks, pocket parks and shared walkways to enhance the physical and mental health of their urban residents. By maximizing the available public space people can move around the city more actively, enjoy their free time and interact with others, whilst there is also room for restoring ecologically valuable spaces.

The project will develop a set of environmental quality indicators and exchange lessons-learnt with a group of Seed Cities (Munich, in Germany, the Region of Murcia, in Spain, and Gzira, in Malta) and a Cross-Pollination Network (Mexico City, in Mexico, Beijing, in China, and Tbilisi, in Georgia), who represent large-scale opportunities for the implementation of nature-based solutions.

What are nature-based solutions?

Nature-based solutions are actions inspired and supported by nature that simultaneously address societal challenges, provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. See here the European Commission's definition of nature-based solutions.

GoGreenRoutes’ unique approach shifts the traditional focus of nature-based solutions towards its co-benefits for biological, psychological, social and environmental health (360-Health). The aim is to enhance, identify and monitor positive effects of green spaces on reduced stress levels, mental resilience and social behaviour while using digital innovation to investigate how green corridors impact physical activity.

Active travel, especially through nature or green corridors, has a key role in supporting healthy lifestyles and achieving WHO (World Health Organisation) physical activity targets. The WHO recommends access to green space of at least 0.5 hectares in size and no more than 300 m from one's home.

What are the benefits of green corridors to urban environments?

Apart from enhancing sustainable mobility, green routes or corridors can reduce air and noise pollution, improve urban ventilation (thereby reducing the heat island effect), provide ecosystem services and habitat to plant and animal species and improve resilience to floods, among many other benefits - all while improving the physical and mental prosperity of urban residents.

What is 360-Health?

Learn more about our intergenerational 360-Health approach here.

"High quality, multifunctional public spaces able to integrate digital, social, cultural and nature-based innovation to enhance health and well-being, while ensuring the right to the city: GoGreenRoutes seeks to evoke a shift in the perception of public spaces linked to increased usage of green corridors, increased active transport and improvements in the population health and well-being."

Tadhg MacIntyre, project coordinator, National University of Ireland Maynooth

About GoGreenRoutes

Making nature healthy again is key to our physical and mental well-being

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