The inter-related issues of urban sprawl, traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution are major socio-economic problems faced by most European cities. The objectives of BUGS are to investigate the potential role of green space in alleviating the adverse effects of urbanisation, and to deduce a set of guidelines regarding the use of green space as a design tool for future urban planning. Pursuing a mixture of environmental and socio-economic research, the focus is on measuring and modelling the impact of green areas on traffic flows and emissions, air quality, noise, accessibility, economic feasibility and social well-being. Based on the findings, design guidelines are formulated and applied to a highly urbanised area. Users are actively involved as partners to help focus and steer the work. The final deliverable of the project consists of a booklet containing the design guidelines and its efficient dissemination to the users.