MEGgies at the ICLEI: 'Making Urban Nature Bloom'
The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) Europe has a strong association with the MEG programme, with a number of former MEGgies now employed among their ranks. Last summer, Erin Danford (MEG 15) joined some of her predecessors and undertook a successful internship at the organisation and was even supervised by MEG graduate Matthew Bach (MEG 8). Matthew is currently serving as Coordinator for Governance and Social Innovation.
The ICLEI - European Secretariat has its headquarter offices in Freiburg. The council embodies a network of local and regional governments from across the globe. The purpose of the organisation is to foster partnership in addressing environmental, social and economic challenges across a number of different contexts. Collaboration, joint information gathering and shared knowledge between governmental, business and civil society actors are therefore central tenets of the mission.
During the internship, Erin worked in collaboration with some of her colleagues, including Matthew, on a new book entitled: 'Making Urban Renewal Bloom: Four Years of Partnering for Nature Based Solutions Across Europe' which has recently been published.
Image: the front cover of 'Making Urban Nature Bloom', published by the ICLEI
As the title suggests, the book looks into a number of partnership processes for urban nature-based solutions across different European locations, with insights from Barcelona, Győr, Leipzig, Malmö, Newcastle and Utrecht. The key issues of declining neighbourhoods, funding scarcity for public spaces, post-industrial transformation and various organisational challenges are discussed across these cases.
The MEG programme commends Erin, Matthew, and the rest of the ICLEI team on this important work!
If you are interested to read more, the book is available in PDF format here. If you wish to find out more about the ICLEI, you can access their website here.
Sources:
ICLEI, 2021: 'Making Urban Renewal Bloom: Four Years of Partnering for Nature Based Solutions Across Europe' https://naturvation.eu/sites/default/files/news/files/making_urban_nature_bloom.pdf
