ESPON TERRBOUND: Rethinking territories within planetary boundaries

How can cities and regions govern effectively in an era of accelerating environmental change? The pressures are real and interconnected: biodiversity is declining, water systems are under stress, land use is shifting, and the cumulative effects cut across every policy domain from spatial planning to public health. Yet most governance frameworks were not designed to deal with these challenges in an integrated way. The ongoing ESPON TERRBOUND project has set out to change that. 

Currently, ESPON TERRBOUND is seeking six sub-national authorities in Europe willing to work with us to integrate the Planetary Boundaries framework into territorial decision-making, policy, and planning. Rather than imposing new restrictions through boundaries, our work with Planetary Boundaries is all about equipping territories with the understanding, tools, and collaborative support they need to navigate environmental complexity and turn it into better governance. We are looking for public authorities in large cities, metropolitan areas, and regions in Europe, that want to explore how the Planetary Boundaries framework can be translated into practical governance approaches. The expected commitment is about 24 hours over 14 months. We have already started to work on the project, and your participation is expected to begin in September 2026. Ready to express your interest? It takes about 3 minutes. Submit your contact details through this form, and we will reach out via email. Want to learn more first, before expressing your interest? Watch this informational webinar or read on! And if you know a city, metropolitan area, or region that should be part of this, please share this page with them.

Read on to learn more about the project.

Why Planetary Boundaries?

The Planetary Boundaries framework, developed by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, a partner in this project, identifies nine critical Earth system processes and the limits within which humanity can safely operate. Six of these boundaries have already been crossed globally. But what does that mean at the level of a city or a region?

That is precisely the question TERRBOUND is designed to answer. As a funded ESPON project, TERRBOUND will work with selected territories to translate global environmental thresholds into locally relevant insights, connecting them to the policy challenges that sub-national authorities are already dealing with. The aim is to build a shared understanding of how these environmental realities shape territorial development and to co-create governance approaches that respond to them.

What will participating territories gain?

Selected authorities will go through a structured process of joint analysis and sense-making with the project team, designed to connect to their existing priorities and make their work easier, not more burdensome.

Concretely, participating territories will receive:

• Environmental analysis tailored to the territory’s specific context and challenges
• Capacity building for sustainable governance, including exposure to cutting-edge approaches from across Europe
• Access to new digital tools and visualisations that support evidence-based decision-making
• A contextually tailored framework for integrating environmental limits into territorial policy

Beyond these deliverables, participating territories will be positioned as early movers in an emerging and increasingly important field of governance innovation, with visibility across ESPON’s European network and the broader sustainability policy community.

The expected commitment is approximately 24 hours over a 14-month period, spread across online workshops, interviews, and one in-person workshop held in the territory. 

Who can participate?

We are looking for sub-national public authorities such as functional urban areas, metropolitan areas, large cities, or NUTS-2/NUTS-3 regions. The participating authority should have significant decision-making power or influence over territorial development and planning.

We welcome expressions of interest from territories at different stages of their sustainability journey. What matters most is a genuine willingness to engage with the process and to explore what governance within planetary boundaries could look like in practice.

Who is behind TERRBOUND?

The project is carried out by three complementary organisations:

The Finnish Environment Institute (Syke) leads the consortium, bringing expertise in policy analysis, transformative governance, and environmental data. Syke coordinates Finland’s contribution to the European Environment Agency network and leads the European Topic Centre on Sustainability Transitions.

Stockholm Resilience Centre (SRC, within Stockholm University) is the birthplace of the Planetary Boundaries framework. SRC brings world-leading expertise in resilience analysis and transformative socio-ecological processes.

Demos Helsinki is a Nordic think tank bringing its expertise in systemic change and stakeholder engagement. Demos Helsinki facilitates the collaborative process with participating territories and coordinates the case study work.

How to express interest?

Please submit your Expression of Interest through this form by 27 May 2026. Filling in the form is not a commitment to participate, but an opportunity to signal your interest and learn more about the project and what it means to be a case study territory. Once we hear from you through the form, we will reach out to you by email!

For questions, contact Dr. Oya Duman at oya.duman@demoshelsinki.fi.