In November 2023, the European Commission organized a conference on how EU support to Ukraine can help with sustainable reconstruction. As part of my assignment for the LIFE programme, I helped, together with ELMEN colleagues, to organize this conference in Vilnius, Lithuania. In addition to drawing up the conference programme, our input was mainly aimed at presenting a selection of LIFE projects that can inspire Ukrainian authorities, architects or project developers to achieve green and climate-proof reconstruction.

I had the honour of setting up and moderating the session on ‘planning for the future of cities’, with a strong emphasis on nature-based solutions and local collaboration. You can (re)watch this session here (November 29, session 3). The very successful and hopeful conference was attended by, among others, highly motivated Ukrainian participants, who were looking for inspiration, networking and connection.