A programme of projects across the square mile to provide greener and more pleasant public spaces and target climate change impacts for the benefit of the City community.

The City of London Corporation is the governing body of the Square Mile, dedicated to a vibrant and thriving City, supporting a diverse and sustainable London. The City Corporation’s Cool Streets and Greening programme (CSG) is a key part of our Climate Action Strategy (CAS). It aims to transform the Square Mile’s streets and public spaces, making them resilient and attractive, and ensuring the future wellbeing of the City community. £6.8m has been invested into four phases of the programme, comprising a total of 45 projects. Each phase targets climate change impacts by reducing overheating, alleviating flood risk and increasing biodiversity and resilience, providing greener and more pleasant public spaces.

Projects to date include greening and relandscaping streets and public spaces, trialling “xeriscape” drought-resistant planting, introducing new species of climate and disease-resistant trees and plants, and the addition of rain gardens and permeable paving. These measures provide greener, shaded walking routes and an enhanced public realm, as well as adding seasonal interest and improving biodiversity.

A collaboration with the British Geological Survey (BGS) enabled the ‘Cubic Mile’ below-ground mapping project, which reviewed opportunities and constraints within the subsurface for climate interventions. To date, the programme has prioritised and investigated over 450 locations for tree planting and led to the enhancement and creation of 14,360m² of public space across the Square Mile.

The projects have incorporated trials and pilots in order to test the best approach for greening and cooling the City. The aim is to use the outcomes and learning to transition to business as usual, ensuring best practice for future public space projects, including updated policy, design guides and toolkits.