Our projects

As part of Edinburgh’s 2050 City Vision, the City of Edinburgh Council is charting an innovative 30-year strategy for the management and sustainable funding of our natural spaces.

Click on the links below to find details on the diverse projects and initiatives underway, each contributing to our shared vision for a greener, healthier Edinburgh.  

This Strategy sets out a 2050 Vision for Edinburgh’s greenspaces. It shows the ambitions of the Council, project partners, and the citizens of Edinburgh. It also states the Council’s commitment to what it will do to achieve the Vision. It is an ambitious 30-year Strategy. It proposes new ways of working to ensure the ongoing improvement, protection, and care of our greenspaces. Our aim is to create a sustainable funding model. It will let us support an excellent greenspace service. This service can help with the city's goals for placemaking, health, sustainability, and biodiversity.

Here is a link to download the most recent version of the Thriving Green Spaces strategy which went to committee in March 2023: Thriving Green Spaces Strategy (March 2023)

The Strategy is the output of the Thriving Green Spaces project. It was made possible by the ‘Future Parks Accelerator’ programme which was funded and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the National Trust, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This has given us the capacity to work with partners and a wide range of stakeholders to explore new ways of working together. This will allow our greenspaces to grow, thrive and adapt over the next three decades. The project also provided an opportunity to develop solutions unique to Edinburgh and share our learning with a national audience.

Taking a whole-estate, strategic approach was always our ambition. The importance of this became even more evident as we worked on the project. We need a holistic, informed, and evidence-based approach. This is key to the transformative change we wish to see. This will enable us to manage and develop our greenspaces in the most effective and impactful way. We sometimes talk about the competing demands on our greenspaces, and it is true to say that there are significant pressures facing them. However, we want to focus on our greenspaces as major assets, providing many benefits for society and nature. They are also solutions to many of the challenges facing towns and cities today.