Landscapers' new competencies for urban greening

<< Background >>Green transformation has changed the way we approach environment and urban greening. There is increasing demand for new, sustainable approaches due to climate change in urban landscaping: biodiversity, new structural solutions (e.g., vertical and roof gardens, innovative rainwater management systems), drought resistance, heat mitigation, etc. How can landscapers address these challenges and what new skills are needed for this?<< Objectives >>The result of this Erasmus+ vocational education international small project is an in-service training model for professional landscapers who build these new environments, updating their knowledge, skills and attitudes accordingly. Furthermore, we aimed to strengthen ties and cooperation between landscaping professionals in three neighbouring countries (Estonia, Latvia, Finland) to work together on similar issues in the future, as we could only address one skill set in this project - but there are many more.<< Implementation >>We implemented all planned activities: 1)Kick-off meeting in Riga 2)Research in each partner country and summary of results 3) Preparation of training program with the expert 4) Piloting training program on-site by actual landscaping work 4) Dissemination of project info and results 5) Project management<< Results >>The result of this Erasmus+ vocational education international small project is a nature-based rainwater management training program for professional landscapers and landscaping students at vocational schools. As the initial training program was piloted on-site by actual construction of a innovative rainwater management solution, it created wider public interest locally and nationally https://www.err.ee/1609352739/valga-pedeli-joe-aarde-rajati-uudne-sademeveekraav.Another valuable result was summary of surveys among landscaping professionals in partner countries for determining the need for new skills due to climate change.