Curitiba, a Generation Restoration role model city, demonstrates pioneering integration of urban agriculture with over 230 gardens and an ambitious 20-kilometer green corridor under development. Its large-scale native tree-planting strategy advances climate resilience across the city, and its innovative nature-based urban planning connects biodiversity, water security, and green infrastructure.

About the city

Curitiba has a population of approximately 1.7 million people, and its metro area has a population of over 3.2 million. It is located in the state of Paraná in southern Brazil, and is situated inland approximately 100 miles from the Atlantic coast. Curitiba has a humid, subtropical climate, with mild winters and warm summers, generally receiving rainfall all year. Curitiba is known for its strong economy, which is dominated by industry and services, and is recognized as an ecological capital for its urban and environmental innovations.

Local challenges

Despite Curitiba’s significant rainfall year-round, extreme precipitation poses threats to the city, particularly because of soil impermeability, flooding, and landslides. At the same time, rising temperatures pose challenges, particularly due to the urban heat island effect. These challenges are exacerbated by Curitiba’s rapid expansion in recent decades. In the last 40 years, Curitiba’s urban expansion has resulted in the loss of over 8,000 hectares of agricultural land and 600 hectares of forests on the city’s periphery, leading to fragmented green areas and a loss of agricultural production and resilience. Furthermore, Curitiba struggles with issues of pollution from low recycling rates and open dumping, as well as substandard water quality in several waterbodies.

How the city leads in restoration

Curitiba is a leader in restoration that has implemented various noteworthy restoration projects, promoting the protection of biodiversity, climate adaptation, water security, and the reconnection of the city with its natural ecosystems.

To address food security challenges and promote sustainability, Curitiba has developed a robust urban and peri-urban agriculture program, which already has 230 gardens spread across the city, including community, institutional, and school gardens. As part of its expansion, the creation of a “Food Connection” Program is underway, an innovative project that aims to implement 20 linear kilometers of a multifunction green corridor along and underneath power lines by 2028. This would include community gardens, orchards, production of medicinal plants, and composting yards, among others, depending on the characteristics of the land and the needs and aspirations of people who work there. This would include spaces for both recreational cultivation and commercial cultivation. This initiative is part of the expansion of a collaboration between the city government and the Brazilian energy company Companhia Paranaense de Energia (COPEL), to strengthen local production, generate jobs, and encourage sustainable agricultural practices in urban and peri-urban areas. To this end, the city government and COPEL are registering the areas covered and protocols for use of the space, as well as drawing up a plan to incorporate and formalize urban and peri-urban agriculture areas that currently informally occupy the power line areas.

Curitiba has engaged in extensive tree planting projects, through Curitiba’s Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Plan, known as PlanClima. Among PlanClima's priority actions is the planting of 550,000 trees to advance urban restoration, with an annual target of 125,000 trees. The initiative prioritizes native species and seeks to create ecological corridors connecting forest fragments, Permanent Preservation Areas, Private Natural Heritage Reserves, and Environmental Protection Areas. In addition to supporting biodiversity and local fauna, these actions strengthen urban resilience by enhancing rainwater infiltration, reducing the risk of flooding, and mitigating the effects of climate change on the urban environment.

Curitiba has committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, as set out in PlanClima. Through PlanClima, Curitiba is implementing various climate initiatives, including expansion of green areas, implementation of sustainable infrastructure for drainage and water security, promotion of low-carbon urban mobility, circular economy, energy efficiency, and agroecological urban agriculture. These actions also include strengthening warning systems for extreme events, monitoring air quality and disease vectors, environmental education campaigns, and creating robust governance and integrated climate data systems.

Among PlanClima's actions, composting plays a prominent role through the “COM-POS-TE Curitiba” program, which seeks to engage households, condominiums, and the public and private sectors in organic waste management. The goal is to compost 30% of this waste by 2030, in line with the C40 Cities Zero Waste Accelerator Commitment. The strategy includes the operation of municipal composting yards and the distribution of home composting kits, promoting the circular economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Curitiba’s integrated planning connects biodiversity preservation with climate action and includes initiatives to protect and restore natural habitats, enhance urban green spaces, and promote native plant species. It also supports green and hybrid infrastructure solutions such as green roofs, rain gardens, and permeable pavements to manage stormwater and reduce urban heat islands. Notably, Curitiba’s nature-based planning also leverages ecological networks through its regional Green Belt system and BioCidade (BioCity) program, designed to increase urban biodiversity.

The city’s largest project centering nature-based solutions (NbS) for urban adaptation is the project Climate Risk Management in the Bairro Novo do Caximba neighborhood. This project involves numerous interventions to preserve the Barigui River basin, such as through the creation of an ecological corridor and a containment dike with linear parks. The objective is to restore the hydraulic function of the soil and local biodiversity, resettle families living in high-risk areas, and transform a degraded area into a natural buffer against flooding, protecting the watershed.

Another noteworthy restoration project in Curitiba is the ongoing restoration of the Reserva Hídrica do Futuro (Water Reserve of the Future). This project aims to preserve the large lakes formed by the confluence of the Prensa, Espigão, and Moinho river basins. These areas were once used for sand extraction, forming the now-remodeled pits. Preserving these lakes will contribute to the creation of a vast biodiversity corridor on the border between Curitiba and the municipalities of Fazenda Rio Grande and São José dos Pinhais, in the metropolitan region.

Curitiba was a founding member of ICLEI in 1992, and has acted as a global leader in promoting nature and biodiversity in cities. In 2007, 32 mayors met in Curitiba with ICLEI and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to draft the Curitiba Declaration on Cities and Biodiversity.

Curitiba was also selected as a Generation Restoration pilot city, for which it launched a project showcasing urban agriculture and innovative financing mechanisms for NbS.

Highlight impact metrics

  • 230 urban and peri-urban vegetable gardens implemented across the city
  • 20 linear kilometers of green spaces (including various types of gardens) planned along power line corridors through the “Food Connection” Program
  • 550,000 trees targeted for planting under PlanClima, with an annual planting target of 125,000 trees
  • 30% of organic waste targeted for composting by 2030 through the “COM-POS-TE Curitiba” program

Role Model City

City Map

Ecosystem Types

Farmlands, Forests and Urban areas

Climate, Biodiversity, and Pollution Risks Addressed

  • Extreme temperatures
  • Droughts
  • Extreme precipitation / flooding
  • Habitat destruction
  • Invasive species
  • Species loss / extinction
  • Ecosystem degradation
  • Air pollution
  • Water pollution
  • Soil contamination
  • Waste mismanagement

Restoration Techniques Applied

  • Composting
  • Ecological connectivity
  • Floodplain restoration
  • Green infrastructure
  • Riverbank restoration
  • Tree planting
  • Urban agriculture
  • Urban forests
  • Waste management

Beyond restoration

In addition to its restoration projects, Curitiba has developed a strong institutional and technical foundation to integrate NbS into long-term urban planning and decision-making. The city uses a robust set of data and analytical tools, provided by the Institute for Research and Urban Planning of Curitiba (IPPUC), to guide spatial prioritization and policy design. These include geospatial datasets on land use change, flood-prone areas, urban heat islands, food access, and socio-environmental vulnerability, which are used to identify areas where restoration can simultaneously address climate risk, ecosystem degradation, and social inequities. 

Curitiba also employs various legal and financial support mechanisms to support its restoration and NbS agenda. These include the Transfer of Development Rights, which allows landowners in environmentally sensitive or protected areas to sell unused construction potential to other parts of the city, creating a direct financial incentive for conservation and restoration on private land. The city also utilizes environmental zoning and drainage planning instruments, which restrict development in flood-prone areas and enable the use of green infrastructure for urban flood management. In parallel, Curitiba applies a set of innovative financing and implementation mechanisms to operationalize NbS, including environmental compensation funds, payment for ecosystem services schemes, and the integration of green infrastructure into drainage, sanitation, and urban redevelopment budgets.

What other cities can learn

Curitiba offers the following advice for other cities to advance restoration work:

  • Restoration initiatives will always be more successful when they involve the impacted communities. Curitiba's urban agriculture program is a policy that relies on popular participation for the maintenance and improvement of the projects implemented. With the support of the communities, public officials can focus their attention on implementing new projects, leaving those already implemented in the hands of the communities.
  • The structuring of clear and simple rules, as well as the use of technical eligibility criteria, ensures that urban agriculture projects are not abandoned and that they serve the places with the greatest need, maximizing investment and resulting in the greatest possible impact.

Further resources