LivableCities
Cork City Council was successful in securing further funding through the final round of the current Interreg North-West Europe (NWE) programme. The LivableCities project – set to run from Spring 2026 until mid-2029 – aims to address challenges relating to biodiversity loss and climate vulnerability in urban and suburban areas. This will focus on creating assets of real ecological value and on enhancing wider ecological connectivity to improve biodiversity value, with additional benefits to local air and water quality, climate resilience, and local communities.
Cork’s involvement aims to identify ecological opportunities at the city-scale in underutilized green spaces, in order to shortlist suitable sites for Green & Blue Infrastructure (GBI) enhancement; and to transform three pilot ‘green deserts’ – e.g. grassed areas lacking biodiversity – into more nature-friendly areas, through tree planting, wetland creation or through creation of habitat mosaics. These will need to be compatible with the local settings and community environment. Additionally, Cork City will aid in co-developing a Joint GBI Strategy and Action Planning Framework, to support future works nationally and internationally.
The project directly complements a suite of Cork City Council aspirations with its technical, policy and implementation aspects, including (among others) the Cork City Green & Blue Infrastructure Strategy (2022-2028), the Heritage & Biodiversity Action Plan (2021-2026), the Climate Action Plan (2024-2029), and the EU Mission on Adaptation to Climate Change. LivableCities will also complement the ongoing GreenDense project, funded under the same programme, that focusses on the different context and conditions of inner-city artificial surfaces.
Cork will work alongside partner cities who comprise: Antwerp (Belgium), Utrecht (Netherlands), Strasbourg (France) and two smaller German cities, Saarlouis and Landau in der Pfalz. The consortium also comprises environmental education and civil society organisations to support outreach and research.
LivableCities provides an ERDF grant of €453,325 for Cork including a combined budget for works, equipment and expertise/services of €377,000. The project will be jointly delivered by both the Operations and Planning & Integrated Development Directorates.