Urban Foundry brings together green infrastructure experts, decision-makers and changemakers to explore how nature-based solutions can help create healthier, greener and more resilient places.
How can we make our towns and cities better equipped to respond to climate change?
That was the focus of Green the City: Adapting to Climate Change, a major conference hosted at Urban HQ in Swansea, bringing together experts, organisations and decision-makers working to create greener, more resilient urban environments.
Delivered by Urban Foundry in partnership with Natural Resources Wales and Swansea Council, the sell-out event explored how nature-based solutions can help communities respond to rising temperatures, heavier rainfall and other environmental challenges.
It also marked an important milestone for Urban HQ, as the first major conference hosted at the venue.
Putting Green Infrastructure into Action
Swansea is helping lead the way in green infrastructure, with innovative projects demonstrating how nature can be integrated into our urban spaces to improve biodiversity, manage environmental challenges and create healthier places for people.
The conference provided an opportunity to share this work, learn from leading experts and explore how successful approaches can be developed and applied more widely.
Through presentations, discussions and workshops, attendees explored practical solutions and the role that collaboration, innovation and local action can play in building climate resilience.
From green roofs and urban planting to wider approaches to sustainable regeneration, the event highlighted the opportunities to rethink how we design, manage and improve our towns and cities.
Collaboration That Creates Change
At Urban Foundry, we believe that creating better places means bringing the right people together, sharing knowledge and turning ideas into practical action.
Green the City demonstrated the value of that approach, connecting organisations, practitioners and communities working towards a shared ambition for a greener, more sustainable future.
We’re proud to be part of the partnerships helping Swansea develop and deliver innovative green infrastructure projects, supporting positive environmental change across the city and beyond.
The event also provided a foundation for further collaboration, with the Wales Urban Green Infrastructure Conference scheduled to take place at Swansea Building Society Arena on 22–23 September 2026.
A huge thank you to our partners, speakers, workshop leaders, exhibitors and everyone who contributed to making the event such a success.
Special thanks to Kate McCabe, Fran Rolfe and Penny Gruffydd for their work, and to Chris Bridgman of Bridgman & Bridgman LLP for sponsoring the conference.
Green the City: Adapting to Climate Change was funded by Welsh Government and part-funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council through Project REPAIR, led by Swansea University in partnership with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, University College London, Hacer Developments Ltd, Codi Group, Natural Resources Wales and Swansea Council.
