A journey to no net land take: a series of webinars

In the framework of the European platform of exchanges PlanningMatters, perspective.brussels is organising a series of webinars in 2025 on how European cities, metropolitan areas and regions are implementing no net land take. The first episode is already behind us, the programme for the rest of the series is now available.

A webinar is organised every month on a specific topic. The guest(s) of the month will present the challanges related to the topic of the day, as well as inspiring local practices.

A sneak peek into the programme:

Episode 2: Compact cities
Date : 24 March 2025 – Register here

The compact city favours relatively high residential density in multifunctional neighbourhoods. Densification is often perceived as negative for quality of life, but this episode will explore how Helsinki and Berlin have managed to optimise the use of urban space while preserving their residents' quality of life. Experts will share their experiences and best practices for creating denser, sustainable and desirable cities.

Episode 3: Greening strategies to prevent land take
Date: 30 April 2025

The focus will be on green infrastructure and the preservation of open spaces in dense urban environments. Turin and Brussels are inspiring examples of projects that integrate nature into the city and protect green spaces. Participants will discover how these initiatives contribute to improving urban resilience and the living environment of residents.

Episode 4: Urban recycling
Date: 28 May 2025

Urban recycling takes the form, among other things, of redeveloping brownfield sites, existing spaces and buildings for new uses. Prague and Bratislava will present their projects to transform brownfield sites into new multifunctional districts. This webinar will offer perspectives on how to bring abandoned spaces back to life and integrate them into the urban fabric.

We kicked off with an introduction on no net land take

The first episode, organised in February 2025, served as an introduction to no net land take and explored the various options for achieving this European objective by 2050.

Nicolas Rossignol (Assistant Director of Research and Policy at ESPON) presented the various trends and challenges in several European countries, based on the ESPON study ‘No net land take trajectories: policies and practices across Europe’.

Some lessons from the discussion:

• The need for well-defined plans and guidelines at the European level regarding EU policies influencing the goal of achieving NNLT by 2050
• “No territory left behind” principle for building NNLT trajectories
• The need for new tools and economic models

The recording of this episode is available on YouTube.