European Year of Greener Cities 2020
On 6 December, the ENVI committee will vote on the above motion for a resolution. The "European Year of Greener Cities 2020" is an initiative of a platform of European NGOs consisting of organisations covering issues ranging from children, disabled people and elderly people's rights to allergy and asthma sufferers, sports organisations, environmental groups and citizens' organisations.
The aims of the year are to raise awareness of the benefits of green spaces in built environment; to increase the quantity and quality of research and development of new innovations; to encourage citizens to act and improve their own neighbourhoods; to create a culture of appreciation of the green spaces; to increase the amount of green infrastructure projects; to connect existing initiatives and share best practices across Member States, and to create a roadmap of greening the European cities by 2030. As there are various existing European projects within the field of green infrastructure, the purpose of the year is to connect all the existing initiatives, share best practices and create momentum for the overall agenda on the local, national and EU levels and to highlight the fact that bringing nature into cities and greening our neighbourhoods is one of the biggest underutilised possibilities to increase the quality of life of European citizens.