From Homes to Habitats - Measuring Nature-Positive Housing for Climate Resilience

Housing is a critical delivery mechanism for climate adaptation under National Adaptation Plans, yet cities often lack tools to measure how residential environments contribute to climate resilience and ecosystem services. This event aims to advance the understanding of how nature-positive housing policies and neighborhood regeneration can be designed, measured and governed to support climate adaptation. Convened by IUCN, ICLEI, Research Centre of Park City Index and UN-Habitat, the session has three objectives: -To strengthen the evidence linking housing, urban nature, and climate resilience by showcasing international frameworks to evaluate ecological performance in residential areas. -To bridge measurement and implementation, demonstrating how monitoring tools can inform housing-led urban strategies, planning decisions, and NbS at neighborhood scale. -To support policy and governance, enabling local governments to translate evaluation results into concrete regulatory, planning and investment actions aligned with climate adaptation goals. The session will be structured in three parts: -Keynote address outlining the current landscape of urban nature evaluation and its relevance to housing and green space systems; -Presentations showcasing methodologies, tools, and lessons learned; -Interactive dialogue with participants to explore applications, challenges and solutions. The session will introduce the IUCN Urban Nature Indexes (UNI), which supports cities in assessing ecological performance related to housing development, land use, material consumption, habitat condition, and nature’s contributions to people. UNI provides a science-based foundation to integrate biodiversity and climate considerations into housing policies. The Park City Initiative’s comparative study on global green assessment tools will present insights into metrics on green space distribution, accessibility, quality of life, and ecosystem functions within living environments. Together, these approaches demonstrate how performance-based measurement can guide more equitable, healthy, and climate-resilient residential neighborhoods. Finally, the event aims to translate evidence into action through implementation pathways, including biodiversity-friendly regeneration approaches like the Berlin Urban Nature Pact. Through interactive dialogue, the session will encourage peer exchange and support cities in applying these tools to advance housing-led, nature-positive climate adaptation.