BGF-Quito: Blue-green factor for Quito and Andean cities
Project Information
High in the Andes at 2,800 meters above sea level, Quito is a city of extraordinary natural landscapes — shaped by ravines, forests, wetlands and mountain ecosystems. Yet rapid urban expansion, climate change, and the loss of urban ecosystems are increasing the city’s vulnerability to flooding, drought, water scarcity and extreme solar exposure.
At the same time, Quito has become a pioneer in Latin America in promoting nature-based solutions as a pathway to urban climate resilience. However, most of these initiatives remain limited to public spaces, leaving enormous, untapped potential in private developments and everyday urban projects.
The BGF-Quito project aims to unlock this potential by developing a Blue-Green Factor for the city — an innovative urban planning tool that encourages and guides the large-scale integration of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions into both public and private urban projects. Inspired by successful experiences in European cities, the tool assigns a value to ecological features such as vegetation, permeable surfaces, or ecosystem restoration, helping urban developments reach a minimum “blue-green score” that strengthens climate resilience.
The project will co-design this tool through a participatory process involving the municipality, the construction sector, urban planners, researchers, and local communities. Scientific analyses and simulations in representative neighbourhoods of Quito will help identify the most effective nature-based solutions for the city’s specific climate and urban conditions.
Ultimately, the project seeks to integrate the Blue-Green Factor into Quito’s urban governance framework, allowing it to guide future construction and urban planning decisions across the city.
By turning nature into a measurable and actionable component of urban development, the initiative will help scale up ecosystem-based adaptation, strengthen urban ecosystems, and improve the quality of life for Quito’s residents. Beyond Quito, the project will generate a methodology and knowledge that can be replicated in Andean and Latin American cities facing similar climate and urbanization challenges, creating a new regional reference for nature-positive urban planning.
