ESPON TERRBOUND: Rethinking territories within planetary boundaries

How can cities and regions govern effectively as environmental change accelerates? The pressures are real and interconnected. Biodiversity is declining, water systems are under stress and land use is shifting, and the combined effects reach every policy area, from spatial planning to public health. Yet most governance frameworks were not designed to address these challenges together. The ESPON TERRBOUND project has set out to change that.

TERRBOUND is a European research project funded by ESPON EGTC. It is carried out by the Finnish Environment Institute (Syke), the Stockholm Resilience Centre and Demos Helsinki between February 2026 and May 2028. Using six case study territories, the project develops a methodology for bringing the Planetary Boundaries framework into regional and local decision-making. The project will turn what it learns into indicators, maps, governance frameworks, and policy recommendations that territories across Europe can use.

About TERRBOUND

TERRBOUND aims to integrate the Planetary Boundaries concept into sub-national governance across Europe. The framework, developed by project partner the Stockholm Resilience Centre, identifies nine critical Earth system processes and the limits within which humanity can safely operate. Seven of these boundaries have already been crossed globally.

The boundaries are global, yet most decisions that affect them are made at national, regional or local level. Planetary Boundaries research has largely overlooked the sub-national scale, and no standard method exists for applying the framework to a city or region. Translating global limits to a territory also involves choices about fairness, responsibility and acceptable risk, which science alone cannot settle.

At the same time, sub-national territories are being asked to strengthen their capacity to adapt to growing risks to the built environment, biodiversity, forests and human health. How can territories govern and develop within a safe and just operating space?

Developed with the territories

TERRBOUND builds its methodology together with the territories that will use it. Six case study territories work with the research team throughout the project: Guimarães (Portugal), The Hague (Netherlands), Nicosia (Cyprus), Celje (Slovenia), Roskilde (Denmark), and Uusimaa Region (Finland).

The project runs in three interlinked strands:

• Downscaling methodology: reviewing existing evidence and data, testing and comparing methods for translating global boundaries to European, national and sub-national levels, and building an indicator database and interactive map visualisations.
• Regional co-development: a joint kick-off with all six territories, a survey and interviews on data, priorities and policy, an online workshop with each territory to select the relevant boundaries and indicators, and a one-day in-person workshop in each territory to validate results, reflect on past development trajectories and design policy interventions.
• Transformative territorial governance: analysing each territory’s policies and institutional conditions, identifying policy levers and Nature-based Solutions that can move territories towards a safe operating space, and synthesising best practices and guidelines for regions across Europe.

Partners in 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), part of 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 brings its expertise in systemic change and stakeholder engagement. Demos Helsinki facilitates the collaborative process with participating territories and coordinates the case study work.

Demos Helsinki’s role

Demos Helsinki leads the case study work. Together with the consortium, we designed and ran the open call and selection process for the case study territories to join the downscaling methodology co-development. Throughout the project, we facilitate the collaboration with the six territories, including the joint kick-off, the online and in-person workshops, and the wider stakeholder engagement that brings in regional actors. We document what works in that engagement and turn it into guidelines that other regions can use when applying the Planetary Boundaries framework. Within this work, we also open up core questions of what re-thinking regional development within planetary boundaries means. We also contribute to the project’s work on transformative governance and policy recommendations.

Follow the project

If you would like to follow the project, hear about upcoming events and publications, or explore what governing within planetary boundaries could mean for your territory, we would be glad to hear from you.

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

More information: the ESPON project page and the Syke project page.