About PLUS Change

PLUS Change is an EU-funded Horizon project that aims to create strategies and decision-making processes for land use, addressing issues related to climate change, biodiversity, and human well-being.

By bringing together a diverse range of stakeholders and incorporating case studies from across Europe, the project focuses on understanding the relationships between urban, regional, and peri-urban areas.

The PLUS Change consortium consists of 23 different partners, involving transdisciplinary expertise from the sciences, social sciences, humanities, and arts.

Our 12 Practice Cases are real-world examples of land use decision making and action within a geographic area, and include Amsterdam, NL; Nitra City, SK; Flanders, BE; Kaigu Wetland, LV; Parc Ela, CH; Province of Lucca, IT; Green Karst, SI; Three Countries Park, DE, BE, & NL; South Moravia, CZ; Surrey, UK; Ile de France, FR; Mazovian Region, PL. These case studies represent a mix of urban, peri-urban, and rural land use areas.

OBJECTIVES

The overarching goal is to generate knowledge and drive transformative change towards a sustainable world. This is done through the production of a range of tools and interventions to shape how land use decisions are made by citizens, planners and policy makers.

Throughout the project we will:

Characterise expected future land use patterns at different time & spatial scales
Produce land use strategies to achieve long term policy and normative objectives
Identify pathways to implement land use strategies, including key intervention pints and actors
Create recommendations to target intervention points in land use governance
Co-develop a toolbox to support land use planners

A TRANSDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO LAND USE PLANNING

We adopt a transdisciplinary perspective to understanding how values, knowledge, governance, powers, and roles of different actors interact to influence land use decisions.

We recognise the diverse needs and values associated with land use, considering the consequences of interventions and governance strategies, and taking a long-term, dynamic perspective to land use.

The transfer and exchange of experiences and knowledge between different Practice Cases and land use domains play a crucial role in achieving the goal of inducing positive change. By learning from different perspectives and experiences, the project aims to create a more sustainable and climate-friendly approach to land use, benefiting both the environment and communities.

THEMES

POSSIBLE LANDSCAPES

The creative outreach programme, Possible Landscapes, runs parallel to the project, supporting processes of co-creation, exploration, data creation and effective communication of results. By employing creative arts and storytelling methodologies throughout the entire project, Possible Landscapes helps participants to imagine a future of sustainable land use and the pathways to achieve this future.

ADVISORY BOARD

The external advisory board members include Sarah Velten of adelphi, Marjan van Herwijnen of the ESPON Programme, Siddharth Sareen, a professor affiliated with multiple institutions in Norway, and Tibor Hartel of Babes-Bolyai University. Together they provide guidance throughout the project, offering their knowledge and expertise on topics related to sustainable land use.