On 20 November 2025, Brussels will host the Sponge Summit – an intensive twelve-hour event launching the European Sponge Landscapes initiative. Over the following four months, the city will become an “open workroom” where experts from across Europe will search for new, effective solutions for landscape retention – shaping landscapes so they retain more water, reduce the risks of droughts and floods, and support climate change adaptation.
The initiative combines an exhibition of projects from different countries, hands-on workshops and public debates. Its aim is to move from isolated examples of good practice towards a coherent European mission for landscape retention and to develop concrete recommendations for EU policies, in particular for the EU Water Resilience Strategy. A key question will be how to use existing legal frameworks, financial instruments and sectoral programmes more effectively to support river and wetland restoration and smarter water management.
Among those invited to the Sponge Summit is Piotr Nieznański from the Code for Green Foundation , an expert with many years of experience in initiating and implementing restoration projects in the field. Piotr is co-author of the #CodeForBlue empowerment education programme, where he draws on his extensive, hands-on experience from environmental projects and water resource protection. For years, he has been delivering restoration projects bottom-up in cooperation with local governments, anglers and community leaders – showing that well-planned actions and even modest support for restoring natural processes can improve the condition of waters, habitats and water-dependent species for the benefit of both people and nature, across divides.
In his intervention, he will present how Poland is implementing measures that enhance landscape retention – including reconnecting rivers with their floodplains, protecting wetlands, restoring spawning grounds and removing barriers that block the migration of aquatic organisms. A particularly important part of his contribution will be the education perspective: using the example of the Code for Blue programme, he will argue that investing in hands-on water and climate education is an investment in the future of water, as today’s pupils and students will become tomorrow’s decision-makers shaping Europe’s water policies and practice.
The Sponge Landscapes initiative is designed to build a lasting network of cooperation between countries, regions and institutions working on water and landscape retention. The conclusions developed in Brussels will support the implementation of the EU’s water strategy and preparations for the UN Water Conference 2026. In this debate, a strong Polish voice – grounded in the experience of the Code for Green Foundation – will also be heard.
Participants and speakers of the SPONGE SUMMIT
The programme will bring together representatives of key European institutions, scientific experts and leaders of on-the-ground projects. Among them are:
Hosts and organisers
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Architecture Workroom Brussels – initiator and curator of the Open Workroom
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Henk Ovink – co-organiser, Global Commission on the Economics of Water
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European Commission, ENV.C – strategic partner (Zero Pollution, Water Resilience & Green Urban Transition)
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Flemish Land Agency, Flemish Environment Agency, Flemish Agency for Agriculture and Fisheries
Political, scientific and institutional speakers
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Bart De Schutter – Executive Director, Flemish Land Agency
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Henk Ovink – Global Commission on the Economics of Water
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Veronica Manfredi – Director at the European Commission (Zero Pollution, Water Resilience & Green Urban Transition)
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Mariana Mazzucato – UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (wystąpienie wideo)
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Przedstawiciele Komisji Europejskiej – Team for the EU Water Resilience Strategy
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Scientists from PIK (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research) – analysis of European “green water” flows
Experts and representatives of field-based practices
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Ellis Penning – SpongeScapes, SpongeWorks – scientific research on retention measures
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Andreas Panagopoulos – Soil & Water Resources Institute-HAO – work with farmers in the Pinios river basin
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Piotr Nieznanski – Code for Green – initiatives for restoring water resources in Poland
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Bureau Stroming / H+N+S Landscape Architects – designing sponge landscapes in the Geul river basin
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Vincent Wolfs – Sumaqua – landscape modelling and collaboration with territorial coalitions
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Representatives of the cabinet of Flemish Minister of Environment and Agriculture Jo Brouns – Blue Deal and retention policies
Photo by Piotr Nieznanski
