Impact of access to nature-positive environments in promoting social cohesion and reducing inequalities in urban and peri-urban settings

Expected Outcome:

Projects should contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Policymakers and civil society organisations will have robust evidence on whether inclusive management of (peri-)urban environmental commons fosters climate and societal resilience, social inclusion, wellbeing and community participation, and whether lack of access to biodiverse green and/or blue spaces exacerbates existing social inequalities (e.g. poverty, marginalisation, and low community wellbeing among vulnerable groups) and people’s sense of inequality and insecurity.

• Development of strategies and innovative solutions to quantify and integrate the distributional aspects of access to quality green and/or blue spaces into integrated spatial planning, accounting for non-market values when making decisions about long-term land use and (peri-) urban development with the aim of supporting nature restoration/preservation in the face of competing pressures and on-going change both in Europe and outside, while achieving a fair and equitable relationship between social groups and the environment.

Scope:

Proposals should focus on exploring and better understanding the relationships between access to quality green and/or blue spaces in the pursuit of social and environmental justice, community cohesion and overall social fabric. Proposals may also look at how to support fair transitions to climate-resilient communities from a climate adaptation and biodiversity perspective, ensuring a link to cohesion and social resilience. Targets, notably for urban ecosystem restoration, under the EU Nature Restoration Regulation[1] should be taken into account. Synergies with the EU Urban Agenda may also be considered.

Research to date has largely focused on the benefits of nature on individuals (e.g., improved health, reduced stress), while more and up-to-date knowledge is needed on their effects at a societal level and across cultural, geographical and socioeconomic contexts as well as the range of functional needs of different groups.

This topic aims to bridge the knowledge gaps surrounding a fair and equitable relationship between social groups and the environment, in particular the link between nature-as a public good and its role in fostering civic engagement that cultivates social cohesion, community wellbeing, shared identity and sense of belonging and place-making.

Studies show that disadvantaged communities have fewer and lower-quality green and/or blue spaces, but less is known about the mechanisms through which access to nature-positive spaces strengthens cultural identities (at the individual and group levels), cohesion and resilience, particularly in lower-income communities and across generations.

Proposals may explore:

• The community-level impacts of initiatives aiming to introduce green and/or blue spaces and an understanding of how intentional design and planning can help improve societal outcomes throughout the community, with special attention to how socially vulnerable groups may be impacted, which types of natural spaces are used for which activities and what distance constitutes 'accessible' or sufficient to promote social contact. When considering the notion of access to quality green and blue spaces, researchers should consider not only the physical distance to these spaces, but other barriers such as the state of desolation of public green and/or blue spaces, privatisation, as well as cultural, social, economic barriers to access nature.

• Knowledge gaps around the long-term impacts of lack of access to quality green and/or blue spaces, and how this amplifies existing socioeconomic inequalities, in particular the intersection with other determining factors of sociopsychological and mental wellbeing such as age, education, employment, housing, health, mobility and socioeconomic status, including aspects around ease of access, affordability and capacity to empower communities, particularly among vulnerable groups (such as marginalised urban communities, including migrants and informal settlements).

• The role that community-based projects – for example those aimed at social participation and inclusion, environmental preservation, circular economy and food security, and preserving natural heritage (e.g., urban gardening, traditional ecological knowledge practices, rewilding, nature conservation, nature-based solutions and citizen science) – play in strengthening community agency, identity, place attachment, and sociopsychological, mental and material well-being and social capital.

• The role of green and/or blue spaces in the mitigation of inequalities in pollution exposure, a source of concern in many disadvantaged communities.

• The potential contributions of local businesses and social economy actors to the implementation of green and/or blue spaces, as well as the meaningful participation of individuals, representing different economic/labour sectors and collective identities within the community.

• The contribution of nature to place-making and the ways in which approaches from the arts and humanities can contribute to how we understand place, and shape future places, in concert with local communities.

Proposals are expected to adopt a gender-sensitive and intersectional approach to analyse differential access to nature-positive environments across population groups. Particular attention should be paid to identifying the structural and systemic drivers of these disparities, as well as assessing the social, economic and health-related impacts of unequal access on individuals and communities.

Interdisciplinary approaches (including from SSH disciplines), combining insights from sociology, anthropology, law, environmental philosophy and systems science, are encouraged. Clustering and cooperation with other selected projects under this and past calls are strongly encouraged, in particular topic HORIZON-CL6-2025-01-BIODIV-06: ‘Assessing and modelling socio-economic impacts of nature restoration’, topic HORIZON-CL6-2023-COMMUNITIES-01-1: ‘Enhancing social inclusion in rural areas: focus on people in a vulnerable situation and social economy’ and topics under the New European Bauhaus (topic HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-03: Understanding inhabitant’s experiences of neighbourhoods to support their health and well-being, and topic HORIZON-MISS-2027-07-CLIMA-CIT-NEB-01: Urban nature: supporting restoration of urban ecosystems, along urban transport networks and in the built environment). Participation by entities from cities that are signatories of the Green City Accord[2] is encouraged. Proposals should engage civil society organisations in the development of their actions.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32024R1991&qid=1722240349976

[2] The Green City Accord is a movement of European mayors committed to making cities cleaner and healthier. It aims to improve the quality of life for all Europeans and accelerate the implementation of relevant EU environmental laws. By signing the Accord, cities commit to addressing five areas of environmental management: air, water, nature and biodiversity, circular economy and waste, and noise. There are 119 signatory cities as of May 2025 (https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/urban-environment/green-city-accord_en).