Nature-based solutions are about more than planting trees, they’re about growing trust. In this episode, we visit Gżira, Malta, to explore how one of the island’s most urbanised municipalities is creating greener, cooler, and more liveable streets. Through collaboration with residents, schools, and local partners, this episode shows how creativity, participation, and patience can turn even the smallest interventions into lasting change.
When we think about greener cities, we often imagine parks, street trees or flower beds. But how can cities actually know whether nature is thriving? And how can they decide where to invest, what to protect, or which neighbourhood needs it most? In this episode, recorded as part of our Urban Future 2026 series, we speak with Loredana Scuto from the IUCN about science-based tools that help cities move from good intentions to informed action.
What happens when cities begin treating nature not as decoration, but as essential urban infrastructure? In this episode, we head to South Tyrol in Northern Italy to explore how the cities of Bolzano and Merano are responding to heatwaves, air pollution, and biodiversity loss through participatory Nature-based Solutions. From public edible gardens and tree inventories to green roofs and policy innovation, this episode reveals how collaboration, patience, and trust can help reshape the future of greener and more inclusive cities.
Not all lessons a city can learn about Nature-based Solutions need to have urban roots. In this episode of the What’s That Green’ podcast, Carla Güell Font tells us about the Aplec lltiŕ project in Catalonia, Spain. Rooted in local culture, this gathering brings together communities in rural territories to connect and celebrate their commonalities like shared heritage and land – and enables them to collectively shape their own future.
In Chania, Greece, a former concrete parking façade is now blooming with jasmine. In this episode of What’s That Green? Podcast, we explore how a vertical garden is improving air quality, cooling the city, and reconnecting people with nature, all through a deeply participatory process. From citizen choices to hands-on planting with children, the Jasmine Wall shows how even a single intervention can spark wider change.
How can education protect one of the world’s most biodiverse forests? In this episode, we travel to the Ecuadorian Andes with Valeria Sorgato, co-founder of gaia-liNc, to explore how scientific research was transformed into hands-on learning for local schools. From classrooms to communities, discover how environmental education is shaping a new generation of forest guardians.
Inner city courtyards represent untapped potential for urban green space. In this fourth podcast episode from What’s That Green?’s special podcast series with JUSTNature, we visit Munich, Germany. The municipality and a wide range of local actors have been collaborating on temporary green solutions in response to rising urban temperatures. The testing phase has thrown up as many challenges as answers, but gives plenty of clues as to how local partnerships, care, and creativity can make processes more equitable, so that overlooked urban spaces become shared places that are full of life.
In this episode of What’s That Green?, we sit down with Waldemar Olbryk, CEO of Archicom, to explore how the Fuzja project in Łódź is transforming a former industrial site into an iconic urban space, where heritage meets innovation, and nature is an essential part of the design. From activating underused land to creating meaningful public spaces, we dive into the mindset and methods behind one of Poland’s most ambitious urban redevelopment projects.
In this episode , we travel to Szombathely, where a neglected schoolyard and an overlooked riverside plot were transformed into green spaces. JUST Nature project, the municipality and ABUD co-designed nature-based solutions with the community turning forgotten sites into places people now love and care for.
In this episode of the What’s That Green? podcast, we head to Georgia’s capital city, Tbilisi, to hear from Ben Hackenberger. From diseased pine monocultures to a forest shaped by community, ecology, and design, this episode explores what it really means to regrow green in a city.