The project has been granted funding by the decision of the INTERREG Central Baltic Programme's Steering Committee on 26 August 2015. Its official implementation period started 1 October 2015 and will last until 1 January 2019.

Baltic Urban Lab aims at improving urban planning by developing and testing new integrated models for brownfield regeneration. The project tackles an increasing need to build attractive, high-quality and sustainable urban areas that is a common challenge for all Central Baltic cities. Baltic Urban Lab will identify and promote already existing good practices on brownfield regeneration and facilitates exchange of experiences between planners and experts in the Central Baltic region. New planning tools and models promoting integrated management and co-creative urban planning will be developed and tested on selected brownfield sites in the four project cities. The project aims for more inclusive urban planning encouraging the participation of different societal groups including citizens, NGOs, land owners, developers, businesses and other stakeholders in the planning process and maximize the use of knowledge and resources of different parties for the development of high quality living and working environment.

During the project, four cities - Riga, Tallinn, Turku and Norrköping - produce concrete integrated plans and development strategies for selected brownfield sites creating base for development projects and better utilization of brownfields. Baltic Urban Lab is led by the UBC Sustainable Cities Commission; Nordregio – Nordic Centre for Spatial Research is coordinating WP3 City Pilots on integrated planning and partnership models, and University of Turku – WP4 Mutual learning, transfer of good practice and recommendations.

More information about the Baltic Urban Lab project available from olena.zinchuk@ubc.net at UBC Sustainable Cities Commission.