SURE Sino-European Workshop on Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature,

Monday, 14 -15 July 2025

Monday, 14 July 2025

Organizers:

Mehmet Tevfik Göksu,  Mayor,

Esenler Municipality, Istanbul/Turkiye

Liao Rong (rosyliao@outlook.com)

Research Center of Territorial Spatial Planning, Ministry of Natural Resources (RCTSP) , CHINA

Meryem Hayir Kanat (meryemhayir@gmail.com)

 Yıldız Technical University Faculty of Education TURKIYE

Jing Gan, (jinggan@tongji.edu.cn),  

Department of Urban Planning, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, CHINA

Jürgen Breuste, (breuste@uni-hildesheim.de)

President of SURE GERMAN

SURE Sino-European Workshop Program Monday, July 14, 10:00–18:00
Moderator: Jürgen Breuste, Meryem Hayir Kanat, Jing Gan
Schedule:
10:00am – 10:30am	Welcome, Mehmet Tevfik Göksu, SURE Organziers
10:30am – 12:00am	to the topics:
5 Presentations each 15 minutes	Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature (presentations)
	Importance – Breuste, SURE President, Gan, CAUP, Tongji University
	Targets – Martina Artmann (Germany): Human-nature partnership: a positive vision for a relational turn in urban ecology
	Methods- Liao Rong（China）:Practice of China's  Spatial Planning on the Concept of Ecological Civilization
	Methods - Sofia Valentini (UK): Location-Based Scoring: A Spatial Assessment Tool for Urban Nature
	Challenges – Meryem Hayir Kanat (Tükiye): Challenges in Urban Nature Conservation in Istanbul
	Cooperation - Jingbin Wu (China): Shanghai Habitat Garden Project: Methods/Challenges for Biodiversity Conservation in High-Density Urban Areas
12:00am – 01:00pm	Lunch
01:00pm – 03:30pm	Open Discussion (2.5h) to the topics: importance, targets, methods and cooperation of Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature, short 10 minutes maximum statements to discuss them are welcome!
	Xiaoli Xu (China) Practice of Spatial Planning for Cultivated Land Protection in Large Cities(final title to be confirmed)
	Angela Hof (Austria) Citizen Science data for urban biodiversity data collection and monitoring: challenges and opportunities
	Erwei Zhang (China) Challenges and planning methods of Green belt in Beijing at different spatial levels
	Dila Toprak (Turkiye) Greening Local Governance: Ecological Practices from the Marmara Region Scale
	Ruan Zhijie & Zhang Erwei (China) Integrating Safety and Recreation in Green Spaces: Beijing's Planning Approach for Stormwater Retention Basins in the Second Green Belt
	Wei Zhang (China) Practice of Spatial Planning for Agriculture and Forestry in Megacity Suburbs
	Jing Gan (China) University Campus Biodiversity Monitoring and Conservation-Case Study of Tongji University, Shanghai, China
	Xiaoxiao Feng（China）Academic Journal as Platform for Sino-European Urban Nature Collaboration
Finally, introduction of the Esenler Team to Esenler Garden
03:30pm – 05:30pm	Discussions on site in Esenler Garden (2h)
05:30pm – 06:00pm	Final discission and decision on a Charta for Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature

 

Targeted Outcome:

A Charta as joint declaration on importance, targets, methods, challenges, and cooperation on Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature. Establishing of a network of partners (institutions and practitioners) for constant exchange, consultations, and support of local and regional activities on urban nature conservation.

 

Explanation:

European cities attach great importance to nature and biodiversity. As most European countries started urbanization process earlier, many of them have accumulated rich experience in urban natural environments conservation. At the EU level, a series of policies such as the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 have been issued. In Netherlands, the New Strategy of Randstad put forward the concept of Greenheart Metropolis; In Germany, the Master Plan of Urban Nature (Masterplan Stadtnatur) was proposed. At the city level, Biodiversity Plan for 2025-2030 (Le Plan Biodiversité 2025-2030) of Paris, Mayor’s Biodiversity Strategy Update of London, and Action program of Berlin’s Urban green 2030 (Handlungsprogramm Berliner Stadtgrün 2030) all demonstrate a strong emphasis on urban nature conservation in the city development.

For cites in China, Europe, and even countries all over the world, it is a key task in spatial planning to find better approaches to protect nature in different gradients of urban areas, to enhance urban residents' perception and love for nature, and thus to achieve the coexistence between man and nature in urban developments.

The Sino-European workshop on Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature targets to support and promote the exchanges between China and Europe regarding urban nature. Invited are scientists from European and Chinese cities, local decision makers and gardeners from Istanbul to share their respective research and practices in the fields of urban nature conservation and perception. The workshop will be followed by a dialogue session in the 5^th International SURE Conference discussion the outcome of the workshop in a broader forum. With the Sino-European workshop and dialogue, we are also looking forward to establishing deeper exchanges among the Society for Urban Ecology (SURE), the Research Center of Territorial and Spatial Planning (CSP), Ministry of Natural Resources of PRC and other Sino-European partners such as Tongji University in China, Yildiz Technical University in Turkey, Hildesheim University in Germany, and others.

Participants (preliminary)

PRACTICIONERS (local)

Local politicians, experts from Esenler Municipality and the Marmara Municipalities Union

Mehmet Tevfik Göksu, Mayor, Esenler Municipality, Istanbul/ Turkiye

Hasan Taşcı,  Deput Mayor, Esenler Municipality, Istanbul / Turkiye, hbcordanoglu@gmail.com

Tuğba Harputlu, Esenler Municipality Administration, Istanbul/ Turkiye, t.harputlu@gmail.com

Zeynep Aktaş, Landscape Architect, Esenler Municipality, Istanbul/ Turkiye, zeynepakt@gmail.com

Dila Toprak, Marmara Municipalities, Istanbul/Turkiye, dila.toprak@mbb.gov.tr

 

TURKIYE (6)

Cigdem Coşkun Hepcan, Ege University Izmir

Meryem Hayir Kanat, Yidiz Technical University, Istanbul

Muhammet Osman Talha Yıldırım, Marmara University

Mustafa Sağdıç, Yidiz Technical University, Istanbul

Serif Hepcan, Ege University Izmir

Yilmaz Arı, Bandırma University, Balıkesir

 

CHINA (15)

              Research Center for Territorial Spatial Planning -Ministry of Natural Resources of China (3) 

Xiaoli Xu, Deputy Director General, Research Center for Territorial Spatial Planning of  Ministry of  Natural Resources

Rong Liao, Director, Deputy Chief Planner, Research Center for Territorial Spatial Planning of  Ministry of  Natural Resources

Wei Zhang, Deputy Director, Research Center for Territorial Spatial Planning of  Ministry of  Natural Resources

Tongji University, College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) (3)  

Jing Gan, Jing Gan, Associate Professor, Director of Bio-CPU Lab（Lab of Biodiversity Conservation and Perception of Urban Nature), Key Laboratory of Spatial Intelligent Planning Technology, Ministry of Natural Resources of China

Mo Wang, PhD student

Lihua Chen, PhD student

Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province (2)  

Guoming Zhu, Deputy Director General, Department of Natural Resources of Guangdong Province

Ning Xu, Director, Guangdong Urban-Rural Planning Design Institute Technology Group Co., Ltd.

Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning & Design (2)

Erwei Zhang, Deputy Director of the Rural Planning Institute, Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning & Design

Zhijie Ruan (Rural Planning Institute, Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning & Design

The Nature Conservancy（TNC) (3)

Linlin Yu, Shanghai protect Program Director of TNC

Jingbin Wu, Shanghai protect project officer

Yan Kang, Shanghai Habitat Garden Project Design Consultant /Research Assistant, Design of School, Shanghai Jiaotong University

 

GUIHUA: Frontier of Urban and Rural Planning (2)

Xiaoxiao Feng, editor

Tao Wu, Technical Specialist

EUROPEAN SIDE (13)

Andrzej Mizgajski, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland

Angela Hof, University of Salzburg, Austria

Barbara Mackiewicz, Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan, Poland

Constantina Alina Hossu, University Bucharest, Romania

Cristian Ioja, SURE Treasurer, University Bucharest, Romania

Dagmar Haase, Humboldt University Berlin, Germany-Online

Diana Dushkova, UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

Jürgen Breuste, SURE President, University Hildesheim, Germany

Luis Inostroza, Mendel University Brno, Czech Republik

Martin Sauerwein, University Hildesheim, Germany-Online

Martina Artmann, SURE General Secretary, University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf, Germany

Sofia Valentin, Dark Matter Labs, London, UK

Xinyue Hu, PhD student, University of Salzburg, Austria