By adopting an approach developed in collaboration with local and regional stakeholders, the European URBLOOM project (2026–2029), led by the Agronomy and Environment Laboratory (UMR LAE UL-INRAE), will explore creative and resilient flowerbeds in nine cities, aiming to combine attractiveness to pollinators, drought resistance and sustainable management for the effective conservation of urban biodiversity.
Given the global decline in pollinator populations over the past two decades, recent studies have suggested that urban green spaces could serve as refuges for pollinators. Ornamental flowering plants can attract a variety of pollinators, but they require frequent watering and may not be well suited to the urban heat island effect and climate change.
In European cities, the plant varieties featured in catalogues are often similar from one city to another, even though climatic conditions differ, and tend to prioritise aesthetic value at the expense of biodiversity benefits. It would therefore be important to change floral management practices, involving all stakeholders, from horticulturists to members of the public.
The aim is therefore to explore the possibility of new types of creative and resilient flowerbeds, designed to combine attractiveness to pollinators, drought resistance and sustainable management for the effective conservation of urban biodiversity. Citizens will be surveyed on their perceptions and acceptance of these new types of flowerbeds, and specialists will carry out awareness-raising activities focusing on pollinators and their observation.
Using floral motifs to design the flowerbeds of the future
To this end, the partners will conduct experiments in public green spaces across nine European cities (in France, Spain, Switzerland and Germany), representing three bioclimatic regions. The proposed approach involves working with local stakeholders by combining ecology and social sciences to foster transformative change in urban green spaces. Floral characteristics and their responses to drought will be measured using standardised protocols to ensure comparability between cities. The project will develop a non-lethal approach to recognising and classifying different groups of pollinators, whilst actively involving a wide range of stakeholders (such as managers and users of urban green spaces, volunteer citizens and school groups) in the identification of pollinators.
Depending on the project’s findings, a significant shift in urban landscaping could be implemented and supported, moving away from a traditional approach focused on visual aesthetics towards a functional approach that promotes biodiversity and adapts to future climatic conditions.
Contact : Alice Michelot-Antalik, coordinatrice du projet, professeure en agroécologie, Laboratoire Agronomie et Environnement (UMR LAE - Université de Lorraine / INRAE), alice.michelot@univ-lorraine.fr
Project partners:
URBLOOM: ‘Transforming flower beds for the future: sustainable use and conservation of pollinators’.
- Laboratoire Agronomie et Environnement (UMR LAE Université de Lorraine - INRAE )
- Evolution-Ecology-Palaeontology Lab, University of Lille-CNRS, Lille, France
- Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences of Paris, Paris, France
- Research Centre in Biodiversity and Environment, University of Toulouse-CNRS, France
- Population Environment Development Laboratory, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France
- Urban Productive Ecosystems, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Basque Centre for Climate Change, Leioa, Spain
- School of Engineering, Architecture and Landscape of Geneva (HEPIA), HES-SO - University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland
- Museum für Naturkunde – Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, Berlin, Germany
- Centre for Ecology and Conservation Sciences, Natural History Museum, Paris, France
- The Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversityand Marine and Continental Ecology, Aix Marseille University, Marseille, France
The 9 European cities involved:
Paris / Villeneuve d’Ascq
Nancy / Berlin / Munich
Genève
Toulouse / Marseille / Vitoria-Gasteiz