Our Vision

Green Minds aims to put nature at the heart of our decision making and inspire a new wave of citywide investment in nature based solutions.

This means fundamentally challenging our existing attitudes and behaviours towards nature: how we think about it; how we engage with it; how we work with it.

Hayley Partridge Bee on flower

In 2019, Plymouth City Council worked with partners to develop the Green Minds concept, securing 3.9m Euros of ERDF funding for Urban Innovative Actions on the theme of sustainable land management. Only 5 cities secured funding during the 4th call and we were the only successful UK city.

Nature based solutions work with and enhance nature to help address societal challenges, providing human wellbeing and biodiversity benefits simultaneously.

Nature Based Solutions Initiative - University of Oxford

Aims

Over the next 3 years, Green Minds will test a broader, systems approach to delivering nature-based solutions in Plymouth (2020-2023). From the learning we will develop a kitbag of resources, tools and evidence for sharing more widely.

Working in partnership Green Minds will

  • Inspire people to connect with nature through delivering rewilding and nature-based projects on the ground that increase habitats and species diversity
  • Experiment with different delivery and management approaches that support community stewardship and green enterprise, creating ‘green mindsets’
  • Use science and creative digital tools to make nature visible and exciting
  • Evaluate our impact and communicate what we learn in innovative and creative ways
Hayley Partridge Group exploring a meadow

Our Values and Approach

How we work is as important as what we deliver.

Our approach is based on collaboration and experimentation to co-create different innovations and actions. This means working across boundaries, influencing and involving old and new stakeholders, broadening leadership to include those not ‘formally’ in charge.

Together, we will examine our long-held assumptions and beliefs around our independence from nature, recognising that we are all members of a living system. We’ll explore what it means to be part of that system, using storytelling as a means to bring experiences to life.

We’ll help each other keep nature at the forefront of our lives. We will bring it into everyday conversations; develop public campaigns and media; and create opportunities for a wider audience to be in nature and to learn from nature.

As we take this journey, we will reflect on what is emerging, celebrate our achievements and share our learning. Whilst recognising that there may be no ‘one size fits all’ model, we will work towards a shared vision for a better future.

Building an evidence base

We want to explore

  • How nature based solutions can improve attitudes and increase connectedness to nature
  • The social value that an increase in nature provides to the city
  • Pathways that develop skills, knowledge and practices which work with nature
  • How working with nature can influence the health and motivation levels of the land management workforce
  • New co-stewardship approaches to land management which provide a better outcome for people and nature

Sharing our learning

Throughout the project we will be collecting evidence using tools and methods such as appreciative inquiry, learning logs, city surveys and action research.

Our Knowledge Hub will show our latest findings including research, reports and case studies. This will help us collate a ‘kitbag’ of tools, tips and resources for sharing more widely after the end of the project.