NEWS
What would Budapest look like if wellbeing, biodiversity and equity shaped urban decisions? DAISY explores the transformative potential of the degrowth doughnut.
Coventry, UK — A new Horizon Europe research project, SPARK4B+, officially launched on 1 September 2026 to turn credible alternatives to growth-oriented socio-economic models into practical pathways for policymakers, businesses and communities. Backed by nearly €7 million over four years, the project brings together 18 partner organisations from nine countries across Europe and Latin America. The consortium will meet in Coventry, UK, on 8 September for its kick-off meeting.
Picture a community farming platform that connects local producers directly with consumers while reducing food waste. It sounds like exactly the kind of innovation biodiversity and equity policy should support. But is it actually transformative? Does it change how people relate to nature and to each other, or does it simply make an existing system run a little more efficiently? DAISY built a tool to help answer that question properly instead of relying on assumptions.
Biodiversity loss is not caused by a single failure, so it is unlikely to be solved by a single fix.
Somewhere out there, a community energy cooperative, a participatory land-use scheme or a small agroecology initiative is already proving that biodiversity and social equity can move forward together.
If you’re managing or leading a project that aims to shift a system, whether for biodiversity, equity, or both, you already know that the hardest part isn’t finding one good intervention. It’s knowing which combination of interventions will actually hold together in your context, rather than working against each other or stalling once the funding highlight reel ends.
