The NBS4MED study visit combined strategic discussions on green infrastructure and climate adaptation with an on-site exploration of El Turonet Park, where the Metropolian area of Barcelona pilot action will take shape.
Where Metropolitan Vision Meets Local Action
The first day of the study visit in Barcelona brought NBS4MED partners to Cerdanyola del Vallès, a municipality at the edge of the Collserola massif and one of the 36 local authorities that together form the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona, AMB). The group travelled by bus to the City Hall of Cerdanyola del Vallès, where the day’s programme began with a warm welcome from Antonio Otero, environmental issues Councillor of Cerdanyola del Vallès and Guille López, Climate Action Delegate Councillor of AMB. The speakers briefly introduced the participants to how the AMB approaches nature-based solutions at the scale of an entire metropolitan territory, one that covers approximately 636 km² and home to more than 3.4 million people.
A key message from the session was that nature-based solutions are most effective when deployed not as isolated projects but as coordinated networks embedded within a coherent territorial strategy. The Barcelona metropolitan experience demonstrates how ecological processes, from river systems and agricultural landscapes to urban green spaces and ecological corridors, function across municipal boundaries and require governance structures that match their scale.
Managing Nature at Scale
NBS4MED partners and stakeholders then visited El Turonet Park. Strategically positioned between dense urban areas, major mobility infrastructures and the foothills of Collserola, the park functions as a green gateway that provides ecological continuity and daily access to nature for locals.
Dina Alsawi, Head of the Parks Department of AMB, presented the metropolitan park management model, giving partners insight into how the AMB coordinates the planning, maintenance and programming of green spaces across a complex and highly urbanised territory. The session highlighted how metropolitan parks serve not only as recreational areas but as key nodes within the wider green infrastructure network, contributing to biodiversity, climate regulation and ecological connectivity.
Metropolitan Network of Climate Shelters
The park is also part of the Metropolitan Network of Climate Shelters, offering shaded, vegetated and thermally comfortable spaces that improve resilience to heat waves. Elena Lacort, Head of the Climate Change Office of AMB, presented the Network, a city-wide system of publicly accessible spaces designed to offer refuge and thermal comfort during extreme heat events. The Network integrates parks, civic buildings, shaded streets and green infrastructure elements into a distributed safety net for vulnerable populations, reflecting a broader understanding of climate adaptation as a social as well as an environmental challenge.
The NBS4MED Pilot at El Turonet Park
The session ended with a visit to the AMB pilot action which will be implemented within the NBS4MED project: the creation of a small urban forest. Its implementation in Cerdanyola del Vallès will allow testing of this NBS which, in addition to significantly contributing to carbon sequestration, will promote water infiltration and storage, improve air quality and mitigate local heat stress effects.
Marina Caballería explained how the intervention will be developed and linked to the park’s existing educational activities and will allow for close monitoring throughout the implementation process. For NBS4MED partners, the visit offered a first-hand look at how a future pilot site translates from planning into place, and how the specific qualities of a site, its ecology, its community connections and its metropolitan role, shape the design of a meaningful intervention.
In conclusion, the study visit gave NBS4MED partners and invited stakeholders a grounded understanding of how one of southern Europe’s most densely urbanised regions is systematically working with nature, from strategic planning to park management, from pilot design to community resilience.
Last Update
11/06/2026
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