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  4. Transforming Streets: Islington’s Pocket Parks

More than 55% of the world’s population currently lives in cities, and that percentage will climb to 68% by 2050. In addition to housing the majority of the world’s population, cities also cause almost 75% of the world’s CO2 emissions. Packed full of people, urban areas are particularly vulnerable to the adverse climate events. Floods, heatwaves, storms and wildfires affect more lives in cities and are exacerbated when combined with ongoing social issues such as wealth inequality, a lack of housing, and unevenly distributed health services. 

London, UK, has experienced several extreme weather events in recent years, including flash floods and a 40 C heatwave. Of all London’s boroughs, Islington is the third smallest and the most heavily built-up. With 15,000 people per square km, only 13% of Islington offers any green space. Considered the sixth most at-risk borough for flooding and overheating, the Islington Council plans to transform the borough, building climate and social resilience into neighbourhoods and communities as part of its Vision 2030 strategy. 

Islington and our team worked together for over two years to figure out how to attract funding to achieve these ambitious and necessary nature-positive goals.

Location

  • United Kingdom

Client

  • Islington Council
img-1-Nature Finance in Cities
img-1-Nature Finance in Cities

The Challenge of Greening City Space

Nature’s importance in cities cannot be understated. Green spaces support not only the environmental resilience of the area but also the cognitive, emotional, and physical well-being of its residents. Opening access to green spaces is a major step towards social equality, which in turn makes for a stronger economy.

Financing the creation and conversion of urban green spaces, however, can be complicated. Many municipalities are cash-strapped, unable to meet their laudable goals without outside investment. 

Nature-based projects don’t offer the kind of financial return that traditional investors have traditionally preferred. That said, there is a growing appetite for green investment. Aware of nature’s social and economic impact, more than 50% of investors want to increase their green investment. Positive environmental and social benefits are considered legitimate returns, instead of solely the financial benefit.

A new framework is needed to combat the uncertainty surrounding private sector investment when socio-environmental benefits are key features of the expected return. Developed by our team in partnership with Islington City Council, The Islington Pocket Park Project leverages unique financing opportunities to enhance community and environmental resilience while catalysing investment in sustainable urban greening projects.

Urban green spaces are not just about enhancing biodiversity; they are about improving the quality of life for city residents. Our goal with the Islington Pocket Park Project is to create spaces that foster community resilience and well-being.

Innovative Solutions: The Islington Pocked Park Project

The Natural Environment Investment Readiness Fund (NEIRF) was created by the UK government to boost private investment in nature-enhancing projects. Using grant funding secured from NEIRF, the Islington Pocket Park Project not only outlines specific nature-improving solutions for Islington’s residents and streets but also establishes a financial framework that can be scaled up and replicated by other cities. 

This framework, developed specifically for urban settings, supports the creation of a pipeline of investment ready projects to fund, resource and deliver city greening projects. The Islington Pocket Park project addresses both nature and social inequality by widening access to local green spaces, reducing the negative impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss, and increasing community resilience.

The Islington Project represents a new model for urban investment. By combining city and private funding, we can achieve significant social, environmental, and economic benefits that traditional financing methods often overlook.

Transforming Urban Spaces: New life into Old Streets

Space is a significant issue in cities like London. Existing infrastructure, housing, and commercial buildings cannot simply be eliminated to make room for natural environments. But they can be altered, which also fits within the limited budgets many municipal authorities have at their disposal.

The bold aim of the Islington Pocket Parks Project is to build capital to design, build and maintain pocket parks in converted stub roads. These stub roads, ranging anywhere from 0.02 hectares to 2 hectares in size, are paved, underused dead ends often found in economically deprived areas. After conversion, they become mixed-used green spaces, providing the immediate community with both nature and social benefits.

These measurable benefits go far beyond the merely financial. Investors will be able to track economic, environmental, and social benefits, including:

  • Reduction of surface temperature, diminishing the urban heat island effect

  • An increase in the number of trees and associated species

  • Improvement in air quality (lower PM2.5 and NOX concentration)

  • Increased visits to each new green space

  • Number of volunteers

  • Jobs created

  • Community use patterns

  • Increase in local custom

  • Properly value uplift

Islington’s pocket parks will balance people, place, and nature, addressing the needs of each. Designed and maintained in collaboration with local communities and organizations, these parks have the potential for widespread and impactful improvements across social, environmental, and economic dimensions. 

Islington’s green space coverage
13%
Stub roads for conversion
250
Cost per pocket park
£250K

Scaling Solutions: New Ideas Need New Tools

What makes this model so exciting is its potential to scale, from the municipal to the regional and even national levels. So far, the team has identified over 250 stub roads ripe for conversion throughout Islington, with 10 pocket parks already under development. 

These pocket parks will deliver cascading returns for both nature and for the local population. In a parallel and complementary research project, students at University College London mapped health and climate risks in Islington’s different wards. 

img-2-Nature Finance in Cities
img-2-Nature Finance in Cities

 

They found that adding 14 pocket parks in Arsenal, Islington could:

  1. Prevent 150 m3 of annual stormwater runoff

  2. Provide 140 tonnes of carbon storage

  3. Potentially generate £50,000 per year in avoided healthcare costs by reducing air pollution

The Islington Project framework includes design, operation, and long-term stewardship, establishing a community model for sustainable maintenance and operation. The results of each project will be verified and reported, capturing the associated social and environmental benefits for investors, the local community, and other interested parties. To encourage collaboration and wider adoption, we will share an open-source register where similar projects can share their before-and-after data, to collect aggregated evidence of the impacts of pocket parks.

What excites us most about the Islington Project is its potential to scale up. We have identified over 250 stub roads in Islington alone that could be transformed into vibrant green spaces, setting a precedent for cities worldwide.

 

Blended Finance: Real investment, real value

This type of urban greening project is typically publicly funded because the returns are predominantly improved social and health outcomes rather than financial gains. The Islington Project uses a blended approach, combining city and private investor funding. With this model, the investment return encompasses all the social, environmental, and economic benefits, along with a boost in brand recognition, always appealing to forward-thinking-investors. Importantly, the framework has attracted investor interest even though the business model has yet to produce any revenue. 

Traditionally, investors have sought to put a price on nature, breaking it down into specific units of dollar value. However, we are evolving into a more inclusive understanding. Nature’s value as a whole far exceeds a simple monetary exchange. Recognizing the vast array of interconnected health, social, and economic benefits that nature provides will create a pipeline of investment, increasing the speed and scale at which we can respond to the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change.

 

Takeaways

  • Carbon and biodiversity credits are not how cities pay for nature-based solutions.

  • Micro measurement of single benefits isn’t the way to get things done in cities, nor at large scale. The social fabric matters. To unlock the greening of cities, we need a new investment vehicle which weighs social and health and economic benefits.

  • The WSP/Islington framework can accelerate demonstration projects and help municipalities reach a wider range of investors, particularly those with ties to the local community (e.g. Business Improvement Areas).

  • Cities can create a portfolio of similar investible projects, particularly in low- or least-contested areas.

  • Investors, who still require a return on investment, are reassured by project scale, depth of expertise, and the respect and trust of the community. Working together with municipalities is the way to guarantee all three. 

Innovative Differentiation: What Sets the Islington Project Apart

Financial Framework

The project uses a blended financing model that combines city and private investment, creating a sustainable funding pipeline for urban greening projects.

Scalability

With over 250 stub roads identified for potential conversion, the project has a clear path for scaling up, setting a precedent for other cities.

Community Involvement

The project emphasizes collaboration with local communities, ensuring that the green spaces meet the specific needs of residents and foster community resilience.

Measurable Impact

The project includes robust metrics for tracking environmental and social benefits, providing clear evidence of its success and attracting further investment.

Other challenges that we have overcome