We are pleased to invite experts and practitioners to participate on May 7 and 8, 2026 in a joint seminar in Sozopol, Bulgaria for the presentation of a planning guide – “Climate Change Adaptation through Green Infrastructure in Urban Areas” and strategic urban reports on climate resilience.

The event is organized within the framework of project № BSB00006 (Green Urban Resilience) “Green solutions for climate change adaptation for smart and sustainable cities in the Black Sea Basin”. The project is implemented under the first call for proposals under the Interreg VI-B NEXT Black Sea Basin 2021–2027 program and is co-financed by the European Union with 90% financial support, with a total project budget of 1,290,188.88 euros.

“Green Urban Resilience” is a cross-border cooperation initiative aimed at supporting climate change adaptation in urban areas, in particular addressing the urban heat island effect by:

  • Developing green and nature-based urban solutions
  • Integrating climate adaptation into local planning policies
  • Creating the International LANDLAB for scientific support - the first laboratory for landscape research in the Black Sea basin
  • Strengthening the capacity of local authorities, experts and communities

The project brings together partners from Turkey, Bulgaria, Georgia and Greece, combining scientific expertise and practical municipal experience to build more resilient and climate-adaptive cities.

The joint seminar, aimed at presenting the planning guide developed by the LANDLAB experts, will be held on May 7 and 8, 2026 in Sozopol in English and is open to all interested experts.

After the assessment of thermal comfort and urban heat stress by local measurement experts and the academic team of LANDLAB in the target cities - Uzunköprü (Turkey), Sozopol (Bulgaria), Batumi (Georgia) and Kavala (Greece), digital heat stress maps, which give a clear picture to politicians of the potential and available areas with heat stress in their cities and the thermal comfort of their citizens became part of strategic urban reports on climate resilience. Based on these pilot actions and local urban reports, LANDLAB experts developed a Planning Guide - “Adapting to Climate Change through Green Infrastructure in Urban Areas” for the development of heat resilience strategies for green and sustainable cities. This Planning Guide will provide the planning steps that local politicians need to take in their work to develop heat resilience strategies as a tool to mitigate climate change.

The event aims to bring together municipal experts and urban planners, environmental specialists, public bodies, representatives of non-governmental organizations and local communities, as well as academic staff, researchers from LANDLAB and local measurement teams of experts, created in each participating country.

This event is organized within the framework of project № BSB00006 (Green Urban Resilience), co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg VI-B NEXT Black Sea Basin 2021–2027 program, with 90% financial support from the EU. The content of this communication is the sole responsibility of the project partners and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or the program authorities.