Between September 2nd and 5th 2025, the European Landscape Ecology Congress IALE 2025 took place in Bratislava, Slovakia.
Our colleague Beatriz Kauark Fontes (Technical University of Munich) organized the session 'Enabling Co-Governance of Urban Landscapes amid and for a Rapidly Changing World', where the JUSTNature project was presented and our co-governance strategies for a just transition towards low-carbon cities were discussed.
As part of the session, Nele Janssen, project coordinator in Leuven, gave insights on the city's work with two pilot sites within our project. Her presentation, 'Shaping the Future with the Neighborood: the JUSTNature Project Experience in Leuven' explained how a temporary green installation was set up in Leuven to demonstrate the potential benefits of greening, and to serve as a tool to engage the local community in the design process. The test installation showcased the potential impact of green interventions on the neighborhood and the benefits and challenges of experimenting with more collaborative approaches toward NbS governance. The presentation also provided an overview of how Leuven involved local residents and stakeholders through participatory workshops, surveys, and presentations before, during, and after the interventions. Feedback from these workshops led to adjustments in the design, providing real-time insights into the feasibility of NbS and fostering community ownership and recognition during the transformation process.
The session reflected on lessons learned, including successes and difficulties encountered, to inspire and guide other cities and practitioners to embrace similar co-governance approaches in their NbS projects.
Header photo: Martin Katler - Unsplash