52nd National Congress of Public Parks and Gardens (PARJAP), Barcelona
March 25 - 28, 2026
We attended the 52nd National Congress of Public Parks and Gardens (PARJAP) in Barcelona! This year’s theme: “Living heritage: transforming the urban landscape.”
Bringing together professionals across urban planning, landscape architecture, and environmental management, the congress created an inspiring space to exchange ideas on preserving green heritage while shaping more resilient urban futures.
During the four day event, EDL Director, Prof. Nina-Marie Lister delivered a keynote lecture titled “Parks + Leading with Landscape for People and Planet,” sharing our lab’s work alongside our graduate studio’s emerging planning and design tools for public-private parks that prioritize biodiversity and urban connectivity.
Her talk explored new financial tools for urban parklands, combined with landscape-led planning and design strategies that support nature-positive urbanism, advancing parks that are abundant, accessible, biodiverse, connected, and protected. Because parks that support biodiversity also support our mental and physical health and wellbeing — benefiting people and the planet.
This work reflects EDL’s ongoing research on urban landscape connectivity, as well as our graduate studio’s focus on nature-based investments and innovative financial tools for urban parkland.