Enabling multispecies transitions of cities and regions (MUST) project

Biodiversity is disappearing at an alarming rate, yet the systems we use to protect it – our education programs, planning tools, and governance structures – often fail to account for the needs of both people and other species together. The MUST project sets out to change this. Working across study sites in Finland and drawing on international cases from Indonesia and Wales, MUST brings together researchers, policymakers, industries, and communities to develop practical tools and approaches that place humans and nature on equal footing in decision-making. We recognise that truly sustainable futures cannot be built by considering human needs alone – the wellbeing of all species that share our cities, forests, and coastlines must be part of the conversation.

At the heart of the project is a commitment to reimagining how we learn about and relate to the natural world. We are developing multi-sensory learning programs – combining audio and visual technologies that help citizens, policymakers and industries understand biodiversity in ways that feel meaningful and personal. By anchoring stories in familiar places and well-loved species, we have found that people are more likely to consider the wellbeing and justice needs of other species. Including multispecies perspective-taking in learning activities has already been brought to life at events like the Model United Nations (TOUMUN), where participants were invited to take the perspective of other species in global decision-making scenarios. This work is also being advanced by four PhD researchers exploring ideas around multispecies futures, secret places, and homes shared across species – pushing the boundaries of how we imagine coexistence in both research and practice.

MUST is also pioneering new ways of assigning value to urban nature. Traditional approaches often fail to recognize the needs of diverse human groups, including children and people with disabilities, as well as the needs of other-than-human species living in cities. We have developed what we call multispecies valuation of green infrastructure, a method that combines ecological data with the social and place-based values that communities hold, to ensure that both human and non-human residents are considered when cities plan parks, corridors, and green spaces. With this method we aim to create more inclusive urban environments where the benefits and burdens of development are distributed equitably across all inhabitants. Our work is directly relevant to major policy frameworks, including the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the Kunming-Montreal International Biodiversity Framework, and the forthcoming Land Use Act of Finland, making MUST’s findings timely and actionable for policymakers across Europe and beyond.

Finally, MUST tackles one of the most stubborn barriers to nature-friendly planning: the fragmented and often competing agendas across government departments, industries, and local authorities. Even when individuals and organisations want to do more for biodiversity, misaligned priorities, limited budgets, and gaps in expertise can make meaningful progress feel out of reach. The project has identified three key obstacles to multispecies urban planning – economic constraints, lack of expertise, and the pressures of urban growth – and is documenting the tactics that planners are already using to tackle these issues. These include making the economic case for nature, treating ecosystems as stakeholders in their own right, prioritising ecologically sensitive areas in spatial planning, and developing zoning approaches that explicitly account for the needs of multiple species. By fostering strategic dialogue and spaces for shared reflection across local, regional, and national scales, MUST aims to turn these small, incremental changes into the kind of systemic transformation that biodiversity – and people – urgently need.

Together, these four strands of work – education, valuation, governance, and capacity building – form an integrated response to one of the defining challenges of our time: how to build cities and societies that truly work for all species that call them home.