Funded by the Zukunft NRW Foundation, this project aims to conduct an in-depth and systematic investigation of both natural and artificial urban green spaces, thereby examining the role of biodiversity in these areas in relation to key ecosystem services. To this end, we will convert urban lawns into extensive grasslands and enrich meadows with plant species to increase biodiversity directly and ecosystem services and climate resilience indirectly.

The project aims to demonstrate how urban green spaces can be ecologically enhanced in a practical and cost-effective manner. Therefore, we will involve various stakeholders from administration, politics, business, and practical nature conservation in the project in the spirit of transformative biodiversity research. In the long term, we plan to also target other types of urban ecosystems such as forests, gardens, or stormwater retention facilities in this study, thereby expanding the pool of study sites.

Our project is also intended to serve as an open research platform that can be used by various researchers for collaborative research projects to advance urban ecology research and sustainable urban development in North Rhine-Westphalia in the long term. Please feel free to contact us.