Supporting Green Infrastructure Planning in Cities: Tools, Data Needs, and City Perspectives
The Urban Nature Program, co-led by the World Bank through its Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC), with support from the GEF, UNEP, and ICLEI, aims to scale up financing to help cities and sub-national governments implement actions for nature-positive development, in line with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Building on existing initiatives and its Urban Nature Network, the Program focuses on integrated solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss. It seeks to align with the portfolios of multilateral development banks, financial institutions, and the private sector to mainstream nature into investment decisions.
The Urban Nature Network is a multidisciplinary group of experts and practitioners in green and blue infrastructure and urban biodiversity. It serves as a dynamic knowledge-sharing platform, fostering exchanges and advisory sessions to bridge gaps between city planners, policymakers, academics, architects, engineers, scientists, technology specialists, and financial institutions—helping translate ideas into actionable investments.
As part of the GPSC Urban Nature Program webinar series, the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the GPSC, will host a second session exploring how data and digital tools can support green infrastructure planning and urban nature interventions in cities.
The webinar will showcase a selection of tools that support decision-making related to green infrastructure planning, including Earth Observation–based solutions and planning platforms developed by international partners. Cities participating in the session will share their perspectives on current data needs and decision-making challenges related to green infrastructure and urban nature investments. The session will also include an interactive discussion with participants to explore remaining gaps in data, knowledge, and tools needed to support cities in planning and implementing nature-based solutions.
Time | Item | Speaker |
14:30 (5 min) | Introduction: why tools matter for green infrastructure planning | Alex Chunet, ESA Specialist, European Space Agency |
14:35 (30 min) | Tool showcase Examples supporting green infrastructure planning and urban nature decision-making
| Xueman Wang, GPSC Program Manager, World Bank Alida Alves, Nature-based solutions Consultant, World Bank Laurence Jones, Professor, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Nieves Peña, Senior Researcher, Tecnalia |
15:05 (10 min) | City perspectives: Data needs and decision-making challenges for green infrastructure planning:
| Congo: Ángela Soriano Quevedo, Urban Development Analyst, World Bank Kenya: Vincent Kitio, Urban Energy Unit Chief, UN-Habitat |
15:15 (25–30 min) | Interactive discussion with participants | Nicki McGoh, Senior Director, Funds & Programs, Caribou |
- Green Infrastructure Handbook. GPSC, World Bank
- Nature-based Solutions Opportunity Scan. NBS Team, World Bank
- Model applications from the City Explorer Toolkit: Cooling potential, and air pollution removal. UKCEH, Tecnalia
