productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration
proGIreg demonstrated how productive Green Infrastructure and nature-based solutions can regenerate post-industrial districts while generating social, ecological and economic value. Across four Front-Runner and four Follower Cities, the project connected real-life Living Labs with co-design, impact assessment, business models and urban planning for NBS replication.
proGIreg — productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration — was a Horizon 2020 Innovation Action exploring how nature-based solutions (NBS) can drive the regeneration of post-industrial urban areas. The project responded to a common challenge across former industrial districts: degraded and underused land, limited access to quality green space, social and economic inequalities, and increased vulnerability to climate change. Rather than treating Green Infrastructure as a one-off public intervention, proGIreg tested an integrated model in which NBS are co-developed with public authorities, communities, research organisations and market actors, linking environmental regeneration with social innovation and viable economic models. The project worked through four Front-Runner Cities — Dortmund, Turin, Zagreb and Ningbo — where Living Labs implemented and tested NBS in real-life conditions. Solutions included regenerated soils, community-based urban farming and gardens, aquaponics, green roofs and walls, accessible green corridors, environmental compensation processes and measures supporting pollinator biodiversity. Four Follower Cities — Cascais, Cluj-Napoca, Piraeus and Zenica — translated the knowledge generated in the Living Labs into locally adapted urban regeneration strategies. Through spatial analysis, stakeholder engagement, co-design, replication tools and Urban Plans, the project demonstrated how NBS can move from individual pilots towards integrated urban planning and long-term regeneration. By the end of the project, proGIreg had produced a transferable knowledge base covering NBS planning and implementation, monitoring and impact assessment, business models, replication and capacity building. Its results provide cities with practical methods for embedding nature-based innovation into the regeneration of post-industrial areas while creating environmental, social and economic benefits.
