Key note: Vital Urban Green Spaces – Planning and Managing for Health, Climate, and Nature Connection 

Vital urban green spaces are green spaces in cities and towns that are healthy, diverse, connected, nearby, and offer a wide range of ecosystem services. Too often, the green spaces in our cities lack vitality and many people don’t have access to vital green spaces. From an international perspective, this talk discusses what makes green spaces vital and essential to the health and resilience of urban communities. Ways of governing, planning, designing, and managing vital green spaces will be presented, from sound governance approaches and planning principles and guidelines to the need for sound, long-term management of green space. A successful evidence-based guideline for urban greening, the 3+30+300 rule for greener and healthier cities, will be presented as well. This guideline stipulates that we should all be able to see at least 3 large-sized trees from our homes, work places, schools, and places of care. We should also have at least 30% tree canopy cover in our neighbourhood.

Finally, in line with World Health Organization recommendations, nobody should live more than 300 metres from a high-quality public green space. In this way we meet requirements for visual green, surrounding green, and recreational green. By meeting the 3+30+300 rule we can promote mental, physical, and social health benefits, while also ensuring cooling and other climate adaptation. Links can also be made to biodiversity, economic development, and other objectives. The presentations presents experiences from the many hundreds of cities around the world that are already using the rule, including from the Nordic region.