Grant Associates helps shape Monaco's vision to bring nature back into the city

How do you bring nature back into one of the world's most densely populated countries?

It is a question that sits at the heart of Monaco's newly launched Bringing Nature Back into the City initiative – a long-term vision that seeks to embed nature, biodiversity and quality of life more deeply into the future development of the Principality.

Developed by the Prince's Government in collaboration with Grant Associates, the vision reflects a simple but ambitious premise: in a highly urbanised territory where every square metre matters, nature cannot be treated as an afterthought. It must become an integral part of how the city evolves.

Rather than proposing a single flagship park or greening scheme, the initiative considers how public spaces, pedestrian movement, biodiversity, climate adaptation and landscape can work together to create a healthier, more resilient and more liveable Monaco.

For Grant Associates, the brief was to rethink the relationship between landscape and urban development in one of the world's most challenging environments.

“We're in a world where contact with nature is really important," says Andrew Grant, Founder and Director of Grant Associates. "We've lost our relationship with the natural world, and everything we do here is about reconnecting people with nature."

That philosophy underpins the vision. Working from a detailed analysis of Monaco's urban form, landscape setting and environmental conditions, the team explored how ecological networks could become more visible throughout the Principality. A central idea was reconnecting Monaco's extraordinary natural setting – from the limestone mountains behind the city to the Mediterranean Sea – through a network of green and blue corridors that allow biodiversity to permeate the urban fabric while creating cooler, more comfortable public spaces.

Research highlighted the fundamental importance of the natural limestone landscape in supporting biodiversity in all its forms but especially climate resilient planting. The strategy explores using limestone-based infrastructure, such as walls, rain gardens and bridges, weaving across the Principality and facilitating improved wildlife and human connectivity while expressing the distinctive geology that underpins Monaco's landscape identity.

Where possible these nature-based corridors will integrate habitat and people movement alongside each other and so create a meaningful reconnection of people and nature in this dramatic urban setting. The strategy also imagines unique stand-alone outcrops carved from limestone and supporting a range of micro habitats. These rocky outcrops or planted totems called ‘Monacoliths’ have the potential to become emblematic of the wider vision whilst adding unique features into Monaco’s public realm.

The vision aligns closely with Monaco's National Biodiversity Strategy and wider environmental commitments. It considers how future development can contribute simultaneously to biodiversity, pedestrian connectivity, public health and climate resilience, recognising that quality of life is shaped by the everyday experience of moving through the city as much as by landmark projects.

For residents and visitors alike, this means more shaded streets, better connected walking routes, richer planting, stronger ecological links and public spaces designed to encourage people to pause, meet and enjoy the city.

Importantly, Bringing Nature Back into the City is not a blueprint for a single intervention. It provides a long-term framework to inform future decisions and investment across the Principality.

From vision to reality

Although Bringing Nature Back into the City is conceived as a long-term framework rather than a single masterplan, its principles are already informing a series of public realm and landscape projects across Monaco.

The redevelopment of the Chemin des Sculptures Garden demonstrates how even highly constrained sites can become richer ecological environments. Above an existing podium structure, the garden is being transformed into a biodiverse Mediterranean landscape with increased tree cover, layered planting and new spaces for rest and recreation, showing how biodiversity, shade, cooling and public life can all be enhanced within an intensely urban setting.

Further north, proposals for Boulevard de Belgique, the Exotic Garden and Place des Bougainvilliers seek to reconnect neighbourhoods through a continuous green promenade. By combining planting, shaded seating, improved accessibility and carefully framed views across the Principality, the project transforms an everyday pedestrian route into a sequence of distinctive landscape experiences while strengthening ecological connectivity.

The proposed Ostende Gardens continue this thinking through a series of terraced gardens overlooking Port Hercule, combining biodiversity, landscape, culture and public space within a new pedestrian route designed to encourage exploration and reconnect people with Monaco's unique topography.

While each project responds to its own site and context, together they demonstrate how the principles of Bringing Nature Back into the City can be applied across different parts of Monaco. Rather than isolated landscape interventions, they represent connected steps towards a more resilient, biodiverse and liveable urban environment.

For Andrew Grant, Monaco's significance extends well beyond its borders:

As cities worldwide confront rising temperatures, biodiversity loss and increasing pressure on public space, Monaco offers an important testbed for new approaches to urban living. The lessons are not about scale, but about intent: placing nature at the heart of future development, recognising landscape as essential infrastructure, and ensuring environmental quality and quality of life are considered together.

For Grant Associates, the vision represents the beginning rather than the conclusion of a long-term journey. As projects continue to emerge, Bringing Nature Back into the City provides a shared framework for creating a Monaco that is more resilient, more biodiverse and more closely connected to its extraordinary natural setting.

The vision has been developed through a multidisciplinary collaboration bringing together expertise in landscape architecture, ecology, climate resilience, mobility, engineering, economics, lighting, soils and ecosystem services. Under the leadership of Grant Associates, the team includes Biodiversity by Design, Studio 4215, Arup, Speirs Major, Nadina Galle, Ecometrix, Space Syntax, Tim O'Hare and RLB | SQA.

A short film outlining the vision, including CGI animations and featuring sections with Andrew Grant, is available here (French narration with YouTube transcript):

Project Credits:

• Grant Associates – Landscape vision, framework and design leadership
• Biodiversity by Design – Ecology and biodiversity
• Studio 4215 – Public realm microclimate and comfort
• Arup – Sustainable development, resilience, water management and civil engineering
• Speirs Major – Lighting strategy
• Nadina Galle – Urban tree canopy and green space analysis
• Ecometrix – Ecosystem services assessment
• Space Syntax – Walking and cycling movement analysis
• Tim O'Hare Associates – Soils strategy
• RLB | SQA – Cost consultancy
• Ingérop – Project management, civil engineering and cost estimation
• Passage Projects - Structural engineering