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The SpongeScapes team gathered in Padua, Italy, from 15 to 17 September for three days of discussions, exchange and field visits as the project enters its final year of implementation.

Hosted at Corte Benedettina, a former monastery dating back to the 15th century and now used by the University of Padua, the General Assembly brought partners together to review progress and look ahead to the months ahead, when the project’s monitoring and modelling results, guidance, toolkits and other outputs will come together.

As part of the LIFE ARTISAN Adaptation & Nature Forum 2026 in Rennes on 7-8 July 2026, SpongeScapes and SpongeWorks jointly organised the European roundtable "Sponge landscapes: Nature-based Solutions for floods and droughts in Europe" on 8 July, bringing together experts from across Europe to discuss how sponge measures can strengthen climate resilience.

On 7 July, the University of Padua hosted Italy's National Sponge Day, bringing together researchers, urban planners and local authorities to exchange experiences on implementing sponge measures across urban, agricultural and peri-urban landscapes.

Flood risk in agricultural landscapes is often the result of decades of land use change. In the Evenlode river basin in southern England, a headwater tributary of the River Thames, river straightening, sedimentation in the river, soil compaction, and increasing built surfaces have reduced the land’s ability to absorb water. As a result, water runoff moves more quickly through the landscape, increasing flood risk on downstream communities. In 2007, a major storm flooded homes in one of the villages. 

Picture: infiltration test at Upper Thames conventional agricultural practice site (infield, where crops grow). (Neeraj Sah, UKCEH)

In the Thames basin, agriculture dominates the landscape. Decades of intensive farming and heavy machinery have reduced the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water. 

Today, farmers are testing regenerative practices, while researchers monitor how these approaches can restore the soil’s natural ‘sponge’ function.