The central concept developed by NAIAD is the “natural assurance scheme” (NAS), which incorporates the risk reduction and prevention value of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) into insurance and investment schemes.

🎯 Main Objectives (Conceptual Frame)

NAIAD’s approach was structured around three pillars:

1. Building Resilience: To foster a resilience approach to risk management using Nature-Based Solutions (NBS).
2. Operationalization: To operationalize and test methods for valuing NBS in nine demonstration (DEMO) sites across Europe.
3. Uptake Facilitation: To facilitate the uptake of cost-effective NBS that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits.

🗓️ Main Results and Work Performed (2018-06-01 to 2020-08-31)

1. Assessment and Evidence Generation

• Biophysical Assessment: Completed at the nine DEMO sites to provide evidence of the role of NBS in managing water risks and to characterize the biophysical hazards present.
• Ecosystem Services Assessment: Assessed the ecosystem services delivered using various tools and risk modeling approaches

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• Socio-economic Assessment: Developed a standardized method for economic, life cycle, damage costs, and co-benefits assessments. Principles for evaluating the cost of NBS implementation were presented.

2. Stakeholder Engagement and Tools

• Risk Perception: Developed a framework to assess the risk perception and risk management behavior of different actors, exploring the underlying social drivers and testing crowdsourcing systems to involve local stakeholders (e.g., Ambiguity analysis, trade-off assessment).
• Knowledge Integration: Developed tools to enhance decision-making and policy-planning by integrating scientific and societal knowledge, including a multi-criteria decision-making toolkit, participatory modeling, and an integrative modeling approach.

3. Business and Policy Uptake

• Business Models: Developed innovative business models to successfully deliver value from NBS.
• Financial Instruments: Developed methods to understand the different funding and finance options necessary for the operationalization of NAS.

📈 Progress Beyond the State of the Art and Impact

NAIAD provided new insights and evidence, moving beyond the traditional view of risk management:

• Positive Assurance Value: NAIAD demonstrated that NBS are an important part of the risk reduction portfolio, increasing system resilience and providing co-benefits. The evidence shows that NAS can better prepare and avoid potential costs from water risks.
• NBS as a Component, Not a “Silver Bullet”: The project highlighted that while effective, NBS are not always the sole solution, and the best option may sometimes be a combination of NBS with traditional (grey) solutions.
• Specific Effectiveness: Simulations indicated that NBS are particularly well-suited to frequent events rather than the most extreme ones, and display their highest assurance value at the prevention stage against water risks.
• Policy Mobilization: The ability to evaluate NBS and NAS will facilitate their incorporation into River Basin Management and risk planning, helping to mobilize resources for financing by shifting the focus toward prevention in the adaptive management cycle.
• Addressing Barriers: The project identified that the different risk perceptions and ambiguity among stakeholders are critical barriers, but also latent opportunities for collective action and uptake of NBS.

NAIAD’s Six-Step NAS Cookbook

The project produced a transferable methodology for others to follow:

1. UNDERSTAND the underlying conceptual frame of natural assurance.
2. CHOOSE the NAS tools, methods, and co-design processes that suit specific needs.
3. TEST their applications in a demonstration site.
4. DEVELOP the business models and financing schemes necessary for adoption.
5. IMPLEMENT the NAS, ensuring MONITORING and EVALUATION of avoided damages and co-benefits.
6. SHARE the experience for transferability across Europe and beyond.

🎯 Overall Objective and Context

The primary goal of EU4IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services to support conservation, sustainable use, long-term human well-being, and sustainable development.

The IPBES rolling work programme (up to 2030) is entirely demand-driven, based on requests from multilateral environmental agreements and governments. It is expected to inform global policy efforts, including the implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, the 2050 Vision for Biodiversity, and the Paris Agreement related to climate-biodiversity links.

The work programme aims to advance the four core functions of IPBES:

1. Identify and prioritize key scientific information (catalyzing new knowledge).
2. Perform regular and timely assessments of knowledge.
3. Support policy formulation by identifying tools and methodologies.
4. Prioritize and provide support for capacity-building needs.

🗓️ Main Results (May 2022 – April 2023)

During this reporting period, progress was made in implementing all six objectives of the IPBES work programme, with several major assessments finalized and task force work progressing.

1. Assessment Progress (Objective 1)

Two key assessments were finalized in July 2022:

• Values Assessment: A methodological assessment regarding the diverse conceptualization of multiple values of nature and its benefits.
• Wild Species Assessment: A thematic assessment of the sustainable use of wild species.

Additionally, work progressed on four other major assessments:

• Thematic assessment of invasive alien species.
• Thematic assessment of the interlinkages among biodiversity, water, food, and health (Nexus Assessment).
• Thematic assessment of the underlying causes of biodiversity loss and options for achieving the 2050 Vision (Transformative Change Assessment).
• Methodological Assessment of the Impact and Dependence of Business on Biodiversity and Nature’s Contributions to People.

2. Task Force Implementation

Work progressed under five dedicated task forces to implement objectives 2, 3, and 4 of the work programme:

• Task force on capacity-building.
• Task force on knowledge and data.
• Task force on indigenous and local knowledge systems.
• Task force on policy support.
• Task force on scenarios and models.

3. Communication and Engagement

Continued implementation of the IPBES communications and stakeholder engagement strategies (Objective 5) was maintained.

📈 Expected Impact

The work programme is structured to achieve six strategic objectives by 2030, reinforcing the foundation for a sustainable future by integrating scientific knowledge into global policy:

1. Assessing knowledge: Deliver the state of knowledge on biodiversity and nature’s contributions to people.
2. Building capacity: Improve the skills and institutional strength for a robust science-policy interface.
3. Strengthening the knowledge foundations: Promote the generation and management of essential data.
4. Supporting policy: Promote the development and use of relevant policy instruments and tools.
5. Communicating and engaging: Increase the visibility and use of IPBES products among members and stakeholders.
6. Improving the effectiveness of the Platform: Ensure regular review of IPBES’s operational efficiency.

The OPERANDUM project (OPEn-air laboRAtories for Nature baseD solUtions to Manage hydro-meteo risks) addressed the critical need to mitigate the impact of severe hydro-meteorological phenomena (like floods, droughts, and landslides) through Nature-Based Solutions (NBS).

🎯 Core Objectives

The project’s primary goal was to reduce hydro-meteorological risks in European territories by co-designing, deploying, and demonstrating innovative green, blue, grey, and hybrid NBS. It aimed to provide science-based evidence for the usability of NBS, establish frameworks for strengthening NBS-based policies, and push for business exploitation and market development.

💡 Main Results and Innovations

1. Open-Air Laboratories (OALs)

• Concept: OPERANDUM established Open-Air Laboratories (OALs), expanding the Living Lab concept to natural and rural areas to test NBS effectiveness in real-world scenarios.
• Implementation: Novel NBS were implemented in seven European countries and three international locations (China and Australia) to address specific risks.
• Specific NBS: Over 20 types of NBS were co-designed and developed against major hazards like river/coastal flooding, droughts, landslides, and coastal erosion. Notable innovations included a patented vegetated dune with sensor-embedded textiles for structural monitoring.

2. GeoIKP Platform

• A major outcome was the OPERANDUM Geospatial Information Knowledge Platform (GeoIKP) (available at www.geoikp.operandum-project.eu). This multi-dimensional, open platform enables stakeholders to improve knowledge on NBS, mitigate climate change, and exploit business opportunities.

3. Scientific Advancement

• Risk Assessment: Conducted unprecedented detailed syntheses of hydro-meteorological forcing of hazards in each OAL using re-analysis (ERA-5) and satellite data.
• Modelling: Achieved crucial advancements in multi-scale impact modelling, fostering original assessments of NBS efficacy that account for non-stationary climate conditions.

🚀 Impact and Legacy

OPERANDUM successfully advanced the state-of-the-art by:

• Policy & Society: Identifying and addressing social and political barriers to NBS uptake, with key findings published in top-ranked journals.
• Global Reach: The project was presented as a UNESCO NBS flagship project at several international events and contributed to the Global Assessment Report for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022 via the GeoIKP.
• Knowledge Transfer: Facilitated through public webinars organized by UNESCO and the widespread dissemination of results via the GeoIKP platform.

💧 Project Context and Objectives

The project addressed the dual challenge of severe water scarcity and poor groundwater quality (over 60% too saline) in India, where conventional desalination and recycling are often prohibitively expensive and energy-intensive.

The overall objectives were to:

1. Develop and demonstrate low-cost water treatment systems for saline groundwater and domestic/industrial wastewaters.
2. Use emerging membrane technologies (Batch Reverse Osmosis – BRO and Forward Osmosis – FO) combined with natural biological processes (phyto-treatment) to raise energy efficiency and reduce costs.
3. Conserve groundwater and utilize waste brine streams for economic benefit.

🛠️ Key Results and Work Performed (2022-02-01 to 2024-07-31)

1. Technology Deployment and Performance

• Operational Sites: Integrated BRO/FO technology is operational at two sites in Gujarat: Lodhva village (producing around 800 litres of clean water per hour) and the Centre of Excellence in Water Treatment and Management at PDEU (which was officially opened in 2022).
• Energy Efficiency: Achieved high recovery ratios of 70–75% and a low specific energy consumption (SEC) of 0.37 kWh/m³. The Lodhva system can produce safe drinking water using only solar power .

2. Sustainable Brine and Wastewater Management

• Phyto-treatment: Developed and designed plant-based treatment solutions for domestic wastewater, with a larger-scale system constructed for integration with the FO/BRO system at PDEU .
• Brine Utilization (Halophytes): Successfully demonstrated the use of brine reject from the BRO system for irrigating halophytic crops (Salicornia and Sarcocornia). Plantations were established and harvested at the Lodhva site, turning a waste product into a potential commercial crop.

3. Industrial Water Recycling

• Integrated Solutions: Developed and validated integrated solutions utilizing FO, BRO, and nanofiltration for effluents from the dairy, textile, and tannery industries.
• Recycling Levels: These solutions enable high industrial water recycling levels of 60–80% with minimum liquid discharge.

4. Commercialization and Governance

• Spin-out Company: The University of Birmingham licensed the hybrid BRO technology to Salinity Solutions, a spin-out company that has raised over EUR 1.4 million.
• Commercial Exploitation: Indian Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI) is commercializing project-developed sensor and monitoring technologies. Aquaporin (FO membrane developer) was listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen.
• Policy: A policy brief on sustainable and equitable groundwater management was produced for India policymakers.

🚀 Progress Beyond State of the Art and Impact

The project made significant strides beyond conventional water treatment by focusing on cost reduction and sustainability:

• Cost and Accessibility: The combined BRO/FO technologies drastically reduced energy consumption, enabling efficient operation on renewable energy. The system costs less than 30 rupees per cubic metre (~EUR 0.35), offering a real lifeline to communities.
• FO Draw Solutions: Provided detailed new knowledge on Forward Osmosis draw solutions, enabling the deployment of FO in industrial applications where it was previously restricted.
• Integrated Knowledge: Developed new understanding of sustainable water management in rural and semi-urban settings by integrating membrane and phyto-technologies powered by renewables.
• Circular Economy: The novel approach of using brine discharge to grow commercial halophytic crops represents a significant breakthrough in knowledge for India, effectively eliminating harmful brine discharges while creating economic opportunities.

The OpenNESS project’s overall objective was to translate the concepts of ecosystem services (ES) and natural capital (NC) into operational frameworks that provide tested, practical, and tailored solutions for informing sustainable land, water, and urban management at various scales.

🔬 Conceptual and Methodological Advances

OpenNESS focused on advancing the science of ES to a mature phase, ensuring concepts could be rigorously applied by practitioners.

Key Conceptual Tools

• Glossary and Reference Book: Created a comprehensive Glossary of over 200 terms and an Ecosystem Service Reference Book (compiling 27 Synthesis Papers) to promote common understanding and consistent terminology.
• Cascade Model: Promoted the application and customization of the Ecosystem Service Cascade Model

as a framework to link society and nature, acting as a common reference point and a tool for “awareness-raising” with non-specialist stakeholders.

• OpenNESS Conceptual Nexus (ONEX): Developed ONEX as a digital “working environment” (utilizing social media tools like TRELLO) to support deliberative processes among stakeholders and help structure decision-making around the four key societal challenges: human well-being, sustainable ecosystem management, governance, and competitiveness.

Assessment Methods and Guidance

• The project tested 43 biophysical, socio-cultural, and monetary methods across its case studies.
• Results led to the development of an integrative ecosystem service assessment framework and a set of decision trees and a Bayesian Belief Network to guide users in selecting methods that are “fit for purpose”.
• A classification translator tool was created (using HUGIN) to help users cross-reference different ES classifications (MA, TEEB, UKNEA, CICES) rigorously.

🗺️ Operationalization in Case Studies

The OpenNESS approach was highly empirical, basing its work on real-world application and refinement.

• Place-Based Application: The concepts and methods were applied in 27 real-life case studies covering different social-ecological systems in 23 European and 4 non-European countries.
• Stakeholder Involvement: The key finding from these applications is that ES knowledge is most effective and operational when decision-makers, practitioners, and key stakeholders are closely involved (a participatory action research approach) to ensure the information is relevant, reliable, and actionable.

🏛️ Policy Impact and Dissemination

• Policy Analysis: Analysis of key EU regulatory frameworks found that the ES concept is not yet mainstreamed across all policy sectors, being largely confined to biodiversity, forestry, and agricultural policies. Policy messages were summarized in briefs on various sectors.
• Scenarios and IPBES: Developed four EU level scenario storylines to assess future impacts on ES. These OpenNESS scenarios have since been used in the IPBES regional assessment for Europe and Central Asia.
• Knowledge Platform: All project results, guidelines, and conceptual tools are synthesized into Oppla (www.oppla.eu), a joint knowledge platform established with the OPERAs project, ensuring the project’s long-term accessibility and perennity.
• Outreach: The project produced 99 scientific articles and engaged in over 200 local outreach events.

Urban MAESTRO was a Coordination and Support Action that aimed to identify, document, analyze, and encourage innovative strategies for the governance of urban design. The core focus was to look beyond sophisticated, formal regulatory frameworks (‘hard-power’)—which often lead to disappointing urban quality—and explore the contribution of alternative, non-regulatory (‘soft-power’) approaches.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Core Focus

The project was driven by the observation that while existing laws prevent the worst development, they often fail to ensure high-quality, sustainable, and livable places.

• Soft-Power Governance: Urban MAESTRO emphasized strategies where public authorities act as enablers, brokers, or inspirational leaders rather than just regulators or direct investors.
• Tool Synergy: The project focused on the synergy between formal tools (like zoning) and informal tools (like architectural competitions, peer review, temporary interventions, and non-mandatory guidance).
• Financial Mechanisms: A particular focus was placed on the relationship between informal tools and financial mechanisms to enhance the effectiveness of both approaches in achieving better design and social objectives.

💡 Main Results and Key Outputs

Over the project’s lifespan, the team conducted a Europe-wide survey, developed detailed case studies, and engaged with stakeholders through workshops and a Policy Dialogue.

Key Deliverables and Outputs

1. Typology of Urban Design Governance Tools: Conceptualizing a new framework to categorize and relate different formal and informal practices.
2. Case Studies: Collected data on over 95 governance practices and elaborated 37 detailed case studies focusing on innovative approaches.
3. Policy Recommendations: Summarized key findings into a set of practical recommendations for public authorities, disseminated through an online publication.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Impact

Urban MAESTRO’s primary innovation was the unique, pan-European focus on the full gamut of informal urban design governance tools, moving the debate beyond traditional regulation.

Contribution Beyond the State-of-the-Art

• New Policy Agenda: Successfully placed informal urban design governance on the policy agenda in Europe.
• Common Language: Established a typology of tools and formulated a new common language for discussing urban design governance practices.
• Value Connection: Demonstrated the link between urban design governance tools and instruments of development finance, showing how this synergy can enhance place value.
• Guiding Principles: Identified six overarching principles for effective urban design governance practice.

The project aims to provide a boost for less advanced practices globally, ultimately leading to a widespread improvement in the quality, sustainability, and liveability of the built environment.

The SUST-BLACK project (Sustainable development at the Black Sea) was a targeted effort to create a common, basin-wide strategy to ensure a healthy, productive, and resilient Black Sea. This was crucial because, despite recovery efforts following a major ecological crisis in the late 1980s–1990s, the sea faced a high risk of regression due to uncontrolled development, old practices, and the supplementary pressure of climate change.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Context

The project’s central goal was to finalise and launch the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for the Black Sea (SRIA).

• Context: The Black Sea is the world’s largest land-locked sea, unique for its anoxic layer below 200 meters. Its importance is both ecological and geopolitical, bordering the EU and sitting at the boundary between Europe and Asia.
• Need: Following earlier stakeholder meetings and the Burgas Vision Paper (2018), there was an urgent need for a coordinated, basin-wide Strategic Agenda to manage the sea’s problems.
• Key Event: The project was built around the “Conference for Sustainable Development at the Black Sea” held during the Romanian Presidency of the EU Council (May 2019) to effectively present the SRIA.

💡 Main Results and Endorsement

The main objectives were fully fulfilled, culminating in the successful launch and high-level endorsement of the SRIA.

1. Finalisation and Launch of the SRIA

• The project team prepared and finalised the SRIA and the resulting Conference document, the Bucharest Declaration.
• The SUST-BLACK Conference took place on May 8-9, 2019, in Bucharest, involving significant personalities in marine sciences and stakeholders from various European programs.

2. Political and International Endorsement

The SRIA quickly achieved high-level political backing:

• EU Council: The SRIA was presented to and endorsed by the EU ministers of research at the COMPET Council meeting in Bucharest (April 4, 2019).
• Black Sea Governments: The SRIA was integrally included in the wider Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea and subsequently endorsed by the ministers of the six riparian countries and the Republic of Moldova (along with the EC and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organisation) at the Ministerial Meeting on May 21, 2019.
• International Dissemination: The SRIA was also presented at major European and international events, such as the EUROCEAN Conference in Paris (June 2019).

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art

The most significant achievement of SUST-BLACK was the creation and official existence of the SRIA itself.

• First Basin-Wide Strategy: The SRIA represents the first-ever basin-wide strategy aimed at the profound understanding of the Black Sea ecosystems and processes to support the sustainable development and implementation of Blue Growth in the region.
• Policy Integration: Romania began sustained efforts to introduce the SRIA into its national strategy for research and innovation for 2021–2027 and in other key national documents (e.g., water management, Marine Spatial Planning).
• Expanded Cooperation: The project opened up basin-wide cooperation with other initiatives supporting Blue Growth in other European seas.

The European Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) was the first major international research effort dedicated to understanding the biological, ecological, biogeochemical, and societal implications of ocean acidification (OA). OA is caused by the ocean absorbing massive amounts of human-made carbon dioxide, leading to a reduction in pH and carbonate ion concentration.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Research Themes

Launched in May 2008, EPOCA involved over 160 scientists from 32 institutions in 10 European countries. Its overall goal was to fill critical knowledge gaps and predict the future impact of OA on marine life and the Earth system.

The research was structured around four core themes:

Theme 1: Changes in Ocean Chemistry and Biogeography

• Objective: Document past and present spatial and temporal fluctuations in ocean carbonate chemistry and the distribution of marine species.
• Methods: Used paleo-reconstruction (e.g., on deep-sea corals and foraminifera) to assess past variability and continuous sampling at time-series stations (e.g., in the Arctic) for present-day observations.

Theme 2: Biological Responses

• Objective: Quantify the impact of OA on marine organisms and ecosystems, including the potential for acclimation and adaptation.
• Methods: Conducted extensive laboratory and field perturbation experiments (mesocosms and natural $\text{CO}_2$ venting sites) on key organisms across various taxonomic groups (e.g., calcifiers, plankton).

Theme 3: Biogeochemical Impacts and Feedbacks

• Objective: Integrate chemical and biological findings into models to project how OA will alter ocean biogeochemistry over the next 200 years and how these changes will feedback on climate.
• Methods: Used Earth System Models (ESMs), forced global/regional ocean models, and a sediment model to investigate impacts on the carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and iron cycles.

Theme 4: Synthesis, Dissemination, and Outreach

• Objective: Synthesize results from the other themes, assess uncertainties, risks, and critical thresholds (‘tipping points’), and communicate these findings to policymakers and the public.
• Method: Formed the EPOCA Reference User Group (RUG) to ensure scientific accuracy and effective dissemination through policy guides, media, and educational materials.

💡 Major Scientific Results

EPOCA generated over 200 publications and significantly advanced the understanding of ocean acidification.

Key Findings by Theme

Legacy and Outreach

• Data Archiving: Maintained two critical databases: one for EPOCA’s observational/experimental data and another—the EPOCA/EUR-OCEANS data compilation—archiving all published data on biological responses to OA, ensuring long-term accessibility.
• Standards and Best Practices: Led the community-reviewed ‘Guide to best practices in ocean acidification research and data reporting,’ which has been widely distributed to standardize research protocols.
• Policy Impact: Played a significant role in raising global awareness, contributing to major policy activities (e.g., IPCC AR5) and producing multilingual guides for policymakers.
• Educational Content: Produced award-winning outreach materials, including the animation ‘The other CO2 problem and the movie ‘Tipping point’.

The PHUSICOS project (‘According to nature’) aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and nature-inspired solutions for reducing the impact of extreme weather events and natural hazards in vulnerable rural mountain landscapes.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Approach

The main objective was to mainstream NBS into Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) practices in mountainous regions, which are often overlooked in national DRR plans despite their high exposure to hydro-meteorological and geological hazards.

Core Approach

• Demonstration: Implement and monitor NBS interventions at large-scale demonstrator case sites.
• Engagement: Utilize a Living Labs approach to foster co-creation and cooperation among diverse stakeholders.
• Evidence: Develop a robust framework and collect long-term monitoring data to prove the performance and co-benefits of NBS in risk reduction.

Case Sites and Interventions

• Large-scale Demonstrators: Serchio River Basin (Italy), French and Spanish Pyrenees, and Gudbrandsdalen valley (Norway).
• Concept Cases: Kaunertal (Austria) and Isar River (Germany).
• Total Actions: 15 NBS interventions were implemented, including 11 physical measures and 4 educational/Living Lab activities, addressing hazards like flooding, debris flows, erosion, rockfall, and snow avalanches.

💡 Main Results and Key Achievements

PHUSICOS successfully bridged the knowledge gap on the effectiveness of NBS in mitigating hydro-meteorological hazards in mountain environments.

1. Implementation of Hybrid Solutions

• Physical Measures: Interventions included creating buffer strips, establishing purification/sedimentation basins, modifying canal cross-sections, afforestation, using dry masonry walls and timber gabions for terracing, and installing stone/wooden structures to secure rocks.
  • The project emphasized hybrid solutions, combining vegetation with revitalized traditional building techniques.
• Learning Tools: Developed a PHUSICOS-VR simulation and virtual reality game as an innovative learning tool for stakeholders.
• Knowledge Hub: The PHUSICOS platform hosts 176 NBS entries, serving as a searchable library of resources.

2. Frameworks and Governance

• Assessment Framework: Developed the ‘Comprehensive Framework for NBS Assessment’ to evaluate and verify NBS performance, supporting decision-making and incorporating modeling of different climatic scenarios.
• Living Labs Success: Stakeholders viewed the Living Labs as a highly useful tool for engaging a broad range of actors and generating NBS knowledge.
• Inclusivity Analysis: Identified the lack of fairness in stakeholder engagement and benefit distribution as a major obstacle to successful NBS implementation, emphasizing the crucial role of co-design and co-creation.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Policy Impact

PHUSICOS generated specific recommendations intended for transfer into European policy, focusing on funding and regulation.

• Policy Recommendations:
  • Climate & DRR Integration: Advocated for leveraging the EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change to promote NBS for adaptation and integrate them into the EU policy sector of Disaster Risk Reduction.
  • Investment & Finance: Recommended extending the scope of the EU Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive to enforce compulsory EIAs, and extending the EU Taxonomy to classify and discourage nature-negative investing.
  • Sectoral Integration: Highlighted the Farm to Fork strategy as a relevant mechanism to encourage farmers in areas like the Serchio River Basin to maximize the potential of NBS.
• Legacy: The project’s post-PHUSICOS plans include long-term monitoring to continuously collect data, validate modeling outcomes, and build the evidence base needed to bolster stakeholders’ confidence and mainstream NBS.

The proGIreg project (productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration) focused on using Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to transform post-industrial urban areas plagued by social, economic, and environmental disadvantages.

🎯 Project Context and Objectives

The primary goal was to create Living Labs (LLs) in cities lacking quality green spaces to improve human health, well-being, and climate resilience. Innovations occurred on three levels:

• Technical: Deployment of specific NBS (e.g., aquaponics, soil regeneration).
• Social: Co-design and co-implementation involving state, market, and civil society.
• Economic: Development of new business models (BMs) for NBS.

🏙️ Participating Cities

The project structure relied on “Front-runner” cities implementing solutions and “Follower” cities testing replicability.

💡 Key Results and Implementation

Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the project successfully moved from methodology establishment to full implementation by Period 3.

1. NBS Implementation and Types

All planned NBS were implemented and documented via fact sheets and the OPPLA platform. Examples of tested solutions include:

• Regenerating soils with biotic compounds.
• Urban agriculture and community-based aquaponics.
• Green corridors and therapeutic gardens.
• Green walls (indoor and outdoor) and pollinator-friendly vegetation.

2. Benefit Assessment

The project defined ten assessment tools across four domains: socio-cultural inclusiveness, human health, ecological restoration, and economic benefits.

1.

This framework aligns with the project’s goal to measure how biophysical structures (NBS) flow into benefits for human well-being and the economy.

3. Business Models and Governance

• New Tools: Created a specific NBS business model canvas and an interactive Business Model Catalogue (iBMC).
• Analysis: Using the Pestoff-triangle, the project analyzed the “third sector” (collaborations between state, market, and civil society) as a decisive actor in creating urban NBS.

4. Education and Outreach

• MOOC: A course titled “Nature-based urban regeneration” was distributed via edX, reaching learners in over 100 countries.
• Community of Practice: Established through internal and external replication events in all Front-runner cities.

🚀 Strategic Impact and Policy Alignment

The project achieved progress beyond the state of the art by translating co-design experiences into concrete guidelines and roadmaps.

• EU Policy Contribution:
  • Climate Adaptation: Reduced heat island effects and heat stress through greening buildings.
  • Climate Mitigation: Demonstrated NBS as urban carbon sinks (COP Agreements).
  • Farm to Fork: Created opportunities for urban food production via community gardens and aquaponics.
  • Biodiversity Strategy: Involved citizens in creating habitats for pollinators.
• Market & Ownership:
  • Shifted the understanding of Green Infrastructure to an urban common resource.
  • Provided open-source knowledge (monitoring guidelines, iBMC) to enable SMEs, NGOs, and cities to enter the NBS market.

The REGREEN project aimed to foster Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) for smart, green, and healthy urban transitions in Europe and China. The project focused on generating knowledge, developing tools, consolidating business models, and promoting awareness of NbS to address urban challenges like public health pressures, inequalities, and climate change vulnerability.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Insights

REGREEN worked along four main objectives:

1. Knowledge Generation: Produce evidence on the benefits of NbS.
2. Tools Development: Create and test tools to guide the design and planning of NbS.
3. Business Models: Consolidate business and investment models for sustainable NbS implementation.
4. Awareness Promotion: Foster awareness in education, governance, and planning.

Key insights for accelerating the transition to equitable, healthy cities include integrating cities with research organizations, involving children, creating enabling funding conditions, breaking silos, and ensuring transparency in sustainable investments.

💡 Main Results and Outputs

The project produced substantial academic and practical outputs, including 34 peer-reviewed articles (with 29 more in progress) and the comprehensive REGREEN Transition Handbook.

Urban Living Labs (ULLs)

Central to the project were Urban Living Labs in both regions:

• Europe: Aarhus (Denmark), Velika Gorica (Croatia), Paris Region (France).
• China: Beijing, Shanghai, Ningbo. These labs catalyzed strategic shifts in planning and capacity building, securing mandates for further NbS exploration.

Tools and Methodologies

• Education: Developed interactive tools like walkable floormaps, citizen science projects for biodiversity, and digital educational tools for children from kindergarten to youth.
• Planning & De-paving: Created approaches to reduce urban land take and tools to identify de-paving potential and re-greening strategies.
• Modelling: Developed six improved ecosystem models to calculate benefits related to air/noise pollution, urban heat islands, and water flow, integrated into the City Explorer Toolkit for Aarhus.

Business and Decision Support

REGREEN elaborated an overall approach for sustainable business models, including public-private, consultancy-driven, and citizen-driven models. A Decision Support Tool was also launched to guide stakeholders through the NbS process.

🚀 Impact and Innovation

REGREEN advanced the state-of-the-art by demonstrating the importance of understanding NbS benefits from multiple perspectives and taking a complex systems thinking approach.

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Explorează

• Urban-Rural Resilience: Explored the role of NbS in enhancing resilience by focusing on “peoplesheds” within the larger context of watersheds and airsheds.
• Typology and Evidence: Developed an internally consistent typology of NbS backed by evidence for the ecosystem services they provide.
• Mapping: Created tools for high-resolution land-cover/land-use mapping and scenarios up to 2030.

It aims to create “Healthy corridors as drivers of social housing neighbourhoods” by focusing on the co-creation of social, environmental, and marketable NBS.

To achieve this, the deliverable focuses on three primary objectives:

1. Identifying Actors and Conditions: Identifying the key actors involved in participation and defining the conditions necessary for active, positive, and ethically sound engagement.
2. Stocktaking of Methods: Taking stock of existing participatory methods and tools (including digital technologies) currently used or likely to be used in frontrunner and follower cities. This involves assessing the “participatory culture” of these cities.
3. Strategic Design: Gathering insights to strategically design participatory solutions and digital tools that support NBS uptake. This work directly informs subsequent tasks (Task 3.2) to tailor methods for specific city cultures.

The ultimate goal is to empower citizens and stakeholders to co-create solutions that improve the environmental and social livability of their communities.

The BiodivScen project was an initiative to address the critical gap between insufficient knowledge and the escalating issues of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESS) degradation. The project aimed to promote and support coordinated international research focused on developing scenarios of biodiversity and ESS to inform policy and raise public awareness, similar to how scenarios are used for climate change.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Global Coordination

BiodivScen networked 27 funding agencies from 24 countries across Europe and other continents. Its main purpose was to strengthen research program coordination and provide policy-makers with the adequate knowledge, tools, and practical solutions needed for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystems.

Core Objectives

• Coordinate Research: Agree on shared research priorities related to scenarios of biodiversity and ESS among major European and international research funders.
• Implement Joint Call: Design and implement an ambitious joint call for research proposals on the development of these scenarios.
• Promote Collaboration: Foster trans-national and trans-disciplinary research collaboration to build capacity and overcome fragmentation.
• Encourage Dialogue: Support dialogue and collaboration between academia, research stakeholders, and relevant socio-economic sectors to increase the impact of research on policy and practice.
• Ease Uptake: Ensure the rapid and efficient uptake of funded research results by the IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) for its future assessments.
• Data Sharing: Reinforce open access to data and data sharing, and evaluate the added value of long-term collaboration between BiodivERsA and the Belmont Forum.

💡 Main Results and Achievements

The project’s success was largely driven by the implementation of its joint call and the structuring of additional activities to maximize impact.

Joint Call Success

• Funding Scale: Successfully launched and implemented a joint call for research proposals on biodiversity scenarios.
• Results: Despite a large number of applications, 21 projects were selected for funding, totaling €28 million, which exceeded the announced reserved budget by €3 million. This resulted in a satisfactory success rate of approximately 16%.
• Trans-continental Scope: The call achieved massive international collaboration, with a large majority of funded projects being trans-continental and all continents being represented.

Additional Activities (Uptake and Capacity Building)

• Internationalization: Established a Working Group (WG) to map research collaborations between different global regions, enhancing the international vision.
• Data Management: Developed a WG on open access to data, incorporating national practices and Belmont Forum data principles. This led to the production of a guidance document for funded projects and future applicants.
• Science-Policy Interfacing: Finalized an implementation plan for the uptake of research results, outlining objectives, priorities, and organizations to be targeted, including collaborations with socio-economic sectors.
• IPBES Collaboration: Explored and drafted a cooperation framework with the IPBES Technical Support Unit on Scenarios and Models.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Expected Impact

BiodivScen pushed the state-of-the-art by aligning global research on ESS, ensuring that the research produced is directly relevant and useful for high-level decision-making.

Global Capacity: The trans-continental success of the call and the mapping assignment on international research collaborations enhance the global capacity for developing and utilizing biodiversity scenarios.

Filling Knowledge Gaps: The 21 funded projects implement the recommendations made by IPBES in its methodological assessment, specifically by developing multiscale and multidriver scenarios and explicitly considering uncertainty.

Enhanced Policy Relevance: The projects demonstrate potential policy/societal relevance and integrate stakeholder engagement from the outset, ensuring the resulting scenarios are appropriate to support decision-making and are expected to feed future IPBES assessments.

Harmonized Voice: By strengthening collaboration within the European Research Area (ERA) and globally (with the Belmont Forum), the program will ultimately result in a more credible and harmonized voice in terms of research on biodiversity scenarios and their use by decision-makers.

The Edible Cities Network (EdiCitNet) project addressed urgent urban societal challenges—such as mass urbanization, social inequity, and environmental change—by promoting the systemic use of urban landscapes for food production. The project’s core focus was raising awareness and facilitating the implementation of Edible City Solutions (ECS), which are initiatives that empower local communities through inclusive, participatory dynamics to foster social cohesion and green economic growth.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Approach

EdiCitNet used a multi-stakeholder-oriented and transdisciplinary approach to formally implement project outcomes and encourage citizen co-creation across 11 global cities, spanning Europe, South America, the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia.

City Implementation Models

• Living Lab Cities (5): Andernach, Berlin, Oslo, Havana, and Rotterdam demonstrated their unique ECS experiences through closely monitored, co-created Living Labs.
• Masterplanning Cities (7): St. Feliu de Llobregat, Šempeter pri Gorici, Montevideo, Guangzhou, Lomé, Berlin, and Carthage focused on anchoring ECS within their urban planning frameworks using the Transition Pathway Methodology for replication.

Local & Global Structure

• City Teams (CTs): Interdisciplinary local teams served as the “local communities of practice and knowledge,” forming the backbone of the global Edible Cities network.
• EdiCitNet Platform: Established as the project’s open and global knowledge base, functioning as a hub for networking, collaboration, business consultancy, and urban design tools.

💡 Main Results and Key Achievements

The project’s key results focused on practical tools, knowledge consolidation, and community expansion leading up to its end in February 2024:

1. Knowledge and Digital Tools

• EdiCitNet Platform: Consolidated three former websites (Toolbox, Marketplace, Community Management Tool) into a single multifunctional platform.
  • The platform and its database now host nearly 500 profiles of ECS and over 90 urban food initiatives.
  • It offers resources, networking opportunities, and access to consulting services.
• “Making Cities Edible” MOOC: Established as a structured, tailor-made knowledge base of project content. It will be part of a new elective course at the University of Ljubljana.
• Serious Game: Successfully designed and tested for integration into the Transition Pathway Methodology.
• Business Support Tools: Developed the Diamond Model tool, the Growing Jobs in Agriculture Playbook, and the Consulting Guidebook to help urban food initiatives set up successful businesses.

2. Implementation and Replication

• Masterplans: The Transition Pathway Methodology was adapted to seven cities, resulting in seven co-created masterplans for anchoring ECS in urban planning frameworks.
• Business Support: Organized 23 tailored Business Model Workshops and 12 one-on-one consultancies for urban food initiatives in the participating cities.
• Lessons Learned: Conducted extensive interviews ($\approx 219$ total) and surveys with urban food initiatives to gather valuable insights on (Up)scaling ECS.

3. Network and Outreach

• The project network experienced substantial growth, attracting 2,402 members/newsletter recipients in 33 countries.
• Produced over 250 pieces of translated educational and dissemination content.
• Strengthened collaboration with sister projects through joint campaigns and participation in NBS taskforces.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Impact

EdiCitNet made significant strides in advancing the urban food movement by formalizing and networking previously isolated initiatives.

• Network-Based Governance: The project successfully initiated a transition towards a network-based governance model, strengthening CTs and actively dismantling silo-thinking as a barrier to ECS implementation.
• Inclusiveness and Social Impact: Demonstrated that inclusive urban regeneration and social impact can be achieved through co-creation and the formation of innovative, transdisciplinary local partnerships.
• Diverse Living Labs: Established five diverse Living Labs that go beyond simple urban landscaping, addressing complex social challenges like densification in disadvantaged neighborhoods, fostering bottom-up stakeholder involvement, and increasing food sovereignty and security.
• Sustainable Legacy: The establishment of the long-term platform and the MOOC ensures that the knowledge base and networking opportunities will prevail beyond the project’s lifetime.

The CLEVER Cities project utilizes Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to address urban challenges and promote social inclusion across cities in Europe, South America, and China. The project’s core innovation lies in the concept of co-creation, where local governments, civil society, universities, and businesses work directly with citizens to design, test, and implement NBS.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Approach

The project sought to position NBS as a means to improve public health, social cohesion, citizen security, and economic opportunities in often deprived urban areas lacking quality green spaces.

Core Objectives

• Increase and improve local knowledge of nature-based solutions.
• Demonstrate that greener cities work better for people and communities.
• Contribute data and information to EU policy-making.
• Promote and enable the global uptake of nature-based solutions in urban planning.

Implementation Strategy

• Front-runner (FR) Cities: Hamburg, London, and Milan established CLEVER Action Labs (CALs)—specific areas where NBS were implemented through intensive co-creation with local citizens (the “experts of their areas”).
• Follower (FE) Cities: Sfantu Gheorghe, Quito, Madrid, Belgrade, Larissa, and Malmö replicated and tailored the NBS solutions to their local needs, guided by roadmaps and governance/business/financial guidance co-created by the project team.
• Knowledge Transfer: The project established learning platforms and training opportunities to share best practices globally, raising the profile of EU leadership in the NBS market.

💡 Main Results and Innovation

The project focused on testing and proving an innovative, participatory methodology for NBS implementation.

1. Co-creation and Governance

• CLEVER Cities Guidance: The project launched comprehensive guidance and promotional materials detailing its co-creation approach.
• Co-design of NBS: FR cities built the basis of innovative NBS, investing significant effort in keeping Urban Innovation Partnerships (UIPs) engaged and active throughout the process.
• Replication Strategies: FE cities successfully established new urban governance schemes and developed robust plans and strategies for NBS replication and mainstreaming.

2. Monitoring and Economic Embedding

• Co-monitoring Activities: Significant effort was placed on involving local stakeholders in co-monitoring activities to customize Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the monitoring process to the specific expected outcomes of the CALs.
• Policy and Economic Impact: Strategies were developed to embed the implemented solutions into a broader economic perspective, gathering impact assessment results to directly influence policy-making.

3. Global Outreach and Scaling

• The project successfully scaled out the CLEVER Cities approach globally, using the UrbanByNature (UbN) hubs to accelerate global awareness of the benefits and co-benefits of urban NBS interventions.
• The project’s outcomes were disseminated at more than 100 events (academic, local, and political), maximizing the impact and fostering future uptake of NBS.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Impact

CLEVER Cities made substantial progress by testing a novel, “bottom-up” approach to urban regeneration.

• Testing Co-Design: The project went beyond the state-of-the-art by offering an opportunity to test the co-design of NBS with diverse stakeholders and citizen-based urban living labs. This practical, comparative assessment unlocked innovative ways to interact with traditional urban planning policies.
• Focus on Inclusiveness: The central inquiry—whether a co-creation, co-design, and co-management approach would successfully dictate social inclusiveness and positive impacts on citizen health, safety, and economic prosperity—is a key advancement in NBS research.
• Legacy: The project contributes valuable evidence to the field where little research was available at the time of its inception. The commitment by partners to continue monitoring the impacts of the implemented NBS in future years will serve as a vital long-term legacy for policy-makers and practitioners.

The GROW GREEN project aimed to develop and implement Nature-Based Solution (NBS) strategies in cities globally to bring about systemic changes in long-term urban planning, development, and management. The central focus was utilizing NBS, specifically Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS), to enhance climate and water resilience while generating significant co-benefits.

🎯 Approach and Implementation

The project centered around three demonstrator pilot cities (Manchester, UK; Valencia, Spain; and Wroclaw, Poland) and engaged the Chinese city of Wuhan to learn from its expansive ‘Sponge Cities’ program . Three additional replication cities (Brest, Modena, and Zadar) were involved to learn and apply the outcomes.

Pilot Demonstrators

💡 Main Results and Evidence-Based Outcomes

The project used a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan covering climatic, environmental, and social indicators. The evidence gathered demonstrated the high efficacy of the implemented NBS features:

Environmental and Climatic Impact

• Water Management and Flood Risk: Monitoring showed the ability of NBS features to reduce urban runoff with high performance figures ($\approx 99-100\%$).
• Heat Stress: Outcomes confirm that NBS can significantly reduce the occurrence of heat stress through processes like evapotranspiration.
• CO2 Savings: NbS features (especially on buildings) offer immediate benefits on thermal behavior, and carbon sequestration in trees and vegetation plays a significant role.
• Biodiversity: All demonstration areas showed significant biodiversity uplift due to the introduction of diverse plants and the protection of mature trees.
• Water Quality: NbS features have the ability to ameliorate and reduce contaminated runoff.

Social and Governance Impact

• Participatory Planning: The project strongly validated that the development and provision of NBS benefits from a participatory planning approach, which successfully engaged local communities and fostered a sense of ownership and involvement.
• Health and Wellbeing: Demonstrated tangible positive impacts on community health and wellbeing.
• Management & Maintenance: Highlighted the critical need for bespoke maintenance schedules and dedicated SuDS management plans.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Legacy

GROW GREEN provided a global platform for sharing best practice and achieved significant governance changes:

• Green City Framework: Produced an easy-to-use, replicable approach called the Green City Framework, which serves as a template for cities starting their journey of green infrastructure strategy development.
• Strategic Influence: The project had a direct and significant influence on partner cities’ strategies. For example, in Wroclaw, all municipal investments must now include NBS (e.g., green tram tracks are standard), and in Manchester, the project directly influenced the design of the first new park in over 100 years.
• Long-Term Monitoring: All pilots will be monitored for the next 5 years (up to 2027), ensuring a robust, longitudinal data set on NBS performance is made publicly available.
• Innovation: The use of participatory planning processes to integrate local residents and stakeholders into the design, ensuring that relevant KPIs were included and engendering community involvement, stands out as a key innovation.

The URBAN GreenUP project aimed to address severe urban environmental issues (like poor air quality, floods, and heatwaves) resulting from urbanization and climate change. It did this by pioneering Renaturing Urban Planning (RUP), an innovative approach that integrates city planning with Nature-Based Solutions (NBS).

🎯 Overall Objectives and Approach

The core objective was to implement NBS through the RUP methodology and establish a replicable framework to achieve large-scale impact and foster a global EU-driven NBS market.

Implementation Strategy

• Front-runner Cities: Liverpool, Valladolid, and Izmir implemented over 100 actions (74 NBS and 28 non-technical interventions).
• NBS Types: Actions ranged from green cycle lanes and street trees (contributing to carbon sinks) to noise barriers and green roofs (improving water management and air quality).
• Replication: The developed RUP methodology was successfully adapted by Follower cities (Mantova, Ludwigsburg, QuyNhon, and Medellin), creating a global network.

💡 Main Results and Achievements

The project focused on the development, deployment, monitoring, and dissemination of the RUP methodology.

1. Renaturing Urban Planning (RUP) Methodology

• Development: The RUP methodology was developed collaboratively by experts, Front-runner, and Follower cities.
• Key Components: The methodology includes procedures for City and area diagnosis, baseline calculation, NBS scenarios generation, City zoning and evaluation, and scaling up guidelines.
• Validation: The RUP methodology was finalized and successfully validated with feedback from the Follower cities.

2. Deployment and Monitoring

• Intensive Transformation: Front-runner cities executed intensive transformations based on their re-naturing Plans.
• Comprehensive Monitoring: A comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy generated an extensive database, accessible via Zenodo and stored for at least 50 years. This yielded a detailed catalog of KPIs and NBS performance metrics.
• Non-technical Interventions: Cities also engaged in non-technical activities, like citizen awareness campaigns, to promote inclusivity and acceptance.

3. Market Development and Exploitation

• Business Models: The project developed methodologies to evaluate social and economic impacts and designed innovative financial mechanisms and business models to foster NBS implementation.
• Key Exploitable Results: In total, the project delivered 58 key exploitable results, including 16 with commercial marketability.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Legacy

URBAN GreenUP set a new standard in urban sustainability by moving beyond traditional approaches to NBS.

• Integrated Strategy: Demonstrated the effective, integrated use of NBS (green, blue, and non-technical actions) directly into the Urban Resilience Strategy via RUP.
• Replicability and Scalability: The successful adaptation and validation of the RUP methodology by a global network of Follower cities proves its replicability and scalability, positioning it for widespread international impact.
• Long-Term Impact:
  • Environmental/Public Health: NBS remain in place, providing lasting benefits to environmental quality and public health.
  • Economic: Contribution to the growth of the global EU-driven NBS market through defined business models and expected growth in job creation and economic activity.
  • Social: Enhancement of social inclusion and equity by promoting accessibility and engaging citizens through participatory planning.
• Knowledge Legacy: The project’s experience, including lessons learned from unforeseen events like the COVID-19 challenge, is captured in a comprehensive library and a final handbook for future urban development initiatives.

The UNALAB project (Urban Nature Labs) had the overarching goal of developing a robust evidence base and European framework for innovative, replicable, and locally attuned Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) to enhance the climate and water resilience of cities. The project emphasized a socially engaged, citizen-driven paradigm and the use of Urban Living Labs (ULLs) to co-create, implement, and test NBS.

🎯 Core Objectives and Approach

UNaLab sought to reinvent the role of local government by focusing on co-creation, scenario thinking, and collaborative action to achieve multiple social, environmental, and economic co-benefits.

Core Objectives

1. Foster Urban Innovation Ecosystems: Establish ULLs where stakeholders co-create and optimize NBS.
2. Develop Evidence Base: Create a robust evidence base and European framework for replicable NBS.
3. Develop Open Data Platforms: Demonstrate the capability of city-level open data platforms to accelerate NBS co-creation and implementation.
4. Transfer Knowledge: Successfully transfer NBS innovations and support the development of NBS roadmaps in follower cities.

Implementation Strategy

• Demonstration ULLs: Partner cities Eindhoven, Genova, and Tampere engaged in systematic co-creation to implement 17 integrated NBS actions, demonstrating their benefits and viability within a living lab framework.
• Replication Focus: Five partner cities (Başakşehir, Cannes, Castellón, Prague, and Stavanger) and two international cities (Buenos Aires and Hong Kong) developed green, sustainable future visions, with the aim of replication.

💡 Key Results and Innovation

UNaLab made significant contributions to the state-of-the-art by developing a comprehensive suite of frameworks, handbooks, and digital tools tailored for NBS adoption:

1. Fostering Innovation Ecosystems (Objective 1)

• ULL Framework: Developed the ULL framework and an Urban Living Lab Handbook.
• Co-creation Tools: Created an Urban Living Lab Online Toolkit featuring a wide range of co-creation tools and methods.
• Barriers Analysis: Conducted an in-depth analysis of barriers hindering NBS implementation.

2. Developing the Evidence Base (Objective 2)

• Impact Analysis: Created the NBS impact analysis framework and NBS Technical Handbook.
• Economic Tools: Developed an NBS value chain analysis and value model, and detailed NBS business models and financing strategies.
• Monitoring: Established NBS performance and impact monitoring protocols.

3. Open Data Platforms and Digital Tools (Objective 3)

• ICT Architecture: Defined the UNaLab ICT framework architecture.
• Decision Support: Developed the Systemic Decision Support Tool and NBS impact simulator for analyzing trade-offs.
• Online Tools: Created the Online Nature Innovation Arena, City Performance Monitor, and the online Nature Recommender tool.

4. Knowledge Transfer and Replication (Objective 4)

• Replication Framework: The UNaLab Replication Framework online content management system captures all project outputs and learnings.
• Support System: Launched the UNaLab Buddy System and webinar series to facilitate knowledge transfer.
• Guidance Documents: Produced the NBS Implementation Handbook, including lessons learned, and an Urban Living Lab Roadmapping toolkit.

🚀 Impact and Legacy

UNaLab’s systematic approach strongly supports the mainstreaming of NBS by addressing the practical and digital needs of city officials:

• Multi-Project Leadership: UNaLab took a leading role in European NBS Taskforces, leading TF1 on Data Management and co-leading TF2 on Integrated Assessment Frameworks, significantly contributing to wider EU guidance and handbooks on NBS impact evaluation.
• Tangible Outcomes: The 17 co-created NBS actions in the demonstration cities are published as case studies on the Oppla platform, providing real-world examples for replication.
• Widespread Dissemination: Project outcomes were disseminated at 141 events in 27 countries and resulted in 43 peer-reviewed publications, validating the project’s scientific and practical contributions.

🎯 Main Objective and Framework

The principal outcome of the project is the Connecting Nature Framework—a process tool designed to guide cities and organizations toward the large-scale implementation of NBS.

The framework is structured into three phases (Planning, Delivery, Stewardship) and seven essential elements that must be considered throughout the process:

1. Technical solutions
2. Governance
3. Financing and business models
4. Nature-based enterprises
5. Co-production
6. Impact assessment
7. Reflexive monitoring

💡 Key Results and Innovation Impact

CONNECTING Nature has successfully deployed its framework in ten partner cities, resulting in significant achievements in capacity building, innovation, and global outreach.

1. Capacity Building and Assessment

• Connecting Nature Framework Embedding: The framework elements were successfully adapted and embedded in the planning and implementation processes of all partner cities, contributing to their climate action and adaptation plans.
• Impact Assessment Tools: Developed the CO-IMPACT decision-support tool and the Assessment Toolkit to help assess NBS impact across multiple indicators.
• Knowledge Transfer: Established an effective NBS peer-to-peer knowledge transfer process between cities and coordinated three global Connecting Nature Summit Series events with over 2,000 participants.

2. Innovation and Enterprises

The project was highly successful in creating sustainable innovations and spin-off enterprises:

• Nature-Based Enterprise (NBE) Platform: Established the Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform, now the world’s largest community of NBEs, to raise awareness of the economic potential of NBS.
• Spin-off Innovations: Led to 92 new project innovations and the creation of 3 spin-off enterprises to ensure project sustainability:
  • UrbanByNature (2019): A global capacity-building programme.
  • EM|Path (2021): Focuses on co-production and engagement techniques for sustainable community development.
  • Connecting Ecology (2022): Specializes in biodiversity surveys and NBS impact evaluation.
  • Co-Impact (2022): An open-source app for creating NBS project evaluation and monitoring plans.

3. Global and Policy Outreach

• UrbanByNature Programme: Successfully launched global hubs (in Brazil, China, Korea, etc.) in collaboration with CitiesWithNature and ICLEI, sustaining the project’s outcomes globally.
• Policy Contribution: Lead authors contributed to two pivotal EC Expert Publications on NBS impact and the nature positive economy, significantly enriching the global knowledge base.
• Practice Impact: Project outcomes were embedded into the RTPI accreditation of planning courses across the UK and Ireland and are being delivered through Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training for professionals in Ireland, Poland, and Spain.

🚀 Impact and Legacy

The deployment of the Connecting Nature framework has resulted in substantial, measurable impacts on cities and the wider policy landscape:

• Leveraged Funding: Several partner cities secured significant funding for scaling up NBS implementation (e.g., Nicosia secured €8m, Ioannina secured €10m).
• Strategic Alignment: 5 Connecting Nature cities were selected for the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030, confirming the framework’s relevance.
• Global Recognition: The UrbanByNature program is now hosted by CitiesWithNature (a registry with over 215 signatory cities), ensuring the project’s longevity and global reach.

The project brought together 24 Funding Agencies (FAs)—17 from Europe and 7 from outside the EU—to align research and innovation (R&I) agendas and foster global, transdisciplinary collaboration.

🎯 Main Objectives and Impact

The primary goal of EN-SUGI was to support the development of practical innovations and new collaborative research that allow urban areas to understand and address the challenges of the FEW Nexus.

💡 Key Activities and Results

The project’s work centered on the preparation, launch, and management of a joint, open call for research proposals on the Urban FEW Nexus.

1. Call Management and Selection

• Global Coordination: Achieved successful joint coordination of the call activities among 24 FAs, representing 20 nations.
• Selection Process: Applied well-proven procedures using a competitive, two-stage process with four reviewers from different fields.
  • Results: 88 proposals were initially submitted; 40 were invited for Stage 2; and 15 transdisciplinary projects were ultimately funded.
• Incubator Workshops: Organized three workshops to foster co-creative and transdisciplinary project development.

2. Monitoring and Assessment

• Proactive Approach: Defined a proactive approach to monitoring and assessing innovation and impact delivery at both the program and project levels.
• Tools Developed: Defined the Terms of Reference evaluation and monitoring framework and the IAIID toolkit (Innovation and Impact Delivery).

3. Communication and Dissemination

• SUGI Connect Platform: Created the SUGI Connect platform to facilitate two-way communication among the funded projects and external stakeholders. This platform aims to encourage knowledge transfer and dissemination of results beyond the project teams’ own channels.
• Outreach: Created the SUGI website, a call promotion toolkit, and defined a joint communication and exploitation strategy.

🌎 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art

The EN-SUGI project achieved significant progress by effectively creating a fully aligned, global research funding mechanism between European and international agencies on a major urban challenge. This established a precedent for transdisciplinary collaboration and co-creation on a continental scale, successfully bridging expertise across Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

🎯 Core Goals and Approach

Despite growing interest, a significant gap existed between the potential of NBS and their practical implementation. NATURVATION focused on three core goals:

1. Evidence Base and Assessment: Develop the evidence base and assessment processes required to evaluate the benefits of NBS for sustainability.
2. Innovation and Implementation: Investigate the innovation taking place, focusing on governance arrangements, business models, finance, and citizen engagement needed to implement NBS.
3. Partnership and Capacity: Work with municipal governments and stakeholders through Urban Regional Innovation Partnerships (URIPs) and a Task Force to create the knowledge, capacity, and tools for delivering NBS on the ground.

💡 Main Results and Key Findings

The project successfully generated a vast body of knowledge and practical tools:

1. Building the Evidence Base

• Urban Nature Atlas: Created the first Urban Nature Atlas for Europe, which is a key unique achievement. The Atlas received over 49,000 visits and is continually cross-referenced.
• Benefits and Values: Found that NBS are generating significant benefits, and that it is possible to value these benefits in monetary terms while still recognizing the diversity of values generated.
• Tensions and Trade-offs: Identified a critical research gap, finding that past efforts often celebrated the multi-functional benefits while paying less attention to the tensions and trade-offs (e.g., related to social and environmental justice) that new forms of value introduce into the urban landscape.

2. Tools for Uptake and Decision Support

A suite of tools was developed to aid decision-making and project design:

• Urban Nature Navigator: A decision-support tool that enables multi-criteria decision-making for diverse NBS.
• Urban Nature Explorer: Supports the design stage of project development by helping to assess potential and trade-offs between different NBS options.

3. Capacity Building and Communication

• URIPs Experience: Produced the “Making Nature Bloom” report, co-produced by the URIPs, to share their real-world experiences—both good and bad—of developing NBS in six European cities.
• Training: Developed the Urban Nature MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which had 54,000 original visitors and 14,000 course enrolments, significantly building capacity across the global community.
• Dissemination: Achieved widespread outreach, including over 140,000 website visits, publications in 20 different journals, and a final conference involving over 600 participants online.

🚀 Impact and Legacy

NATURVATION successfully achieved impact through three pathways:

The project’s legacy includes taking the Urban Nature Atlas forward with increased global coverage, developing the Urban Nature Explorer for commercial use, and ensuring results are available through the Network Nature platform and the CitiesWithNature global network.

The Nature4Cities (N4C) project was a Coordination and Support Action aimed at removing barriers to the widespread adoption of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in urban areas. The project’s overall objective was to build a self-learning platform to empower urban planning decision-making for NBS, thereby addressing challenges like unsustainable urbanization, climate change, and the loss of ecosystem services.

🎯 Approach and Core Deliverable

The N4C approach focused on providing a comprehensive, integrated, and participatory framework through a single online resource: the Nature4Cities Platform.

Platform Structure

The platform contains technical advice, methods, and tools structured into eight complementary and interactive modules designed to engage urban stakeholders in a collective learning process.

Main Results and Tools

The project delivered a robust set of knowledge bases, typologies, and assessment methodologies:

• Knowledge and Typology:
  • Developed a multi-scalar and multi-thematic NBS typology with corresponding NBS fact sheets.
  • Consolidated an Urban Challenges framework covering NBS impacts on 11 distinct urban issues.
  • Created an Implementation Models Typology and online database for governance, financing, and business models.
  • Provided a Step-by-step guide for NBS interventions.
• Assessment Methodologies:
  • Developed a holistic multi-criteria assessment methodology to evaluate benefits, co-benefits, and costs.
  • Defined two new valuation scales: the Monetary valuation scale and the Environmental Quality of Life valuation scale (EQoL).
  • Integrated environmental assessment methodologies, including Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA).
  • Tested sophisticated methods like Agent-Based Modelling and developed a Dynamic assessment approach for indicator time series.
• Tools (Integrated into the Platform):
  • NBS Explorer: For browsing NBS knowledge.
  • Geocluster4NBS: Includes a project observatory, pre-selection tool, and replication functionalities.
  • Diagnostic of your city’s trends: Integrates the Colouree Analytics and GreenCity tools.
  • NBS project assessment module: Contains various assessment tools like the Expert Model-Based Box, the socio-economic tool NBenefit$, and the Environmental assessment tool.
  • Noise Modelling tool extension for NBS (stand-alone application).

🚀 Impact and Business Model

Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art

N4C established an integrated holistic and participatory framework that directly supports new governance, business, and finance models for NBS in urban planning. The development of simulation tools within the platform enables stakeholders to simulate trade-offs associated with different NBS scenarios, which is critical for evidence-based decision-making.

Impact and Business

• Market Support: The platform’s tools support municipalities, real estate developers, and planners, fostering the creation of a global market and new business opportunities toward the green economy.
• Pilot Validation: The platform was successfully tested on four pilot cities, which are expected to serve as ambassadors for its wider adoption across the EU and globally.
• Business Model: The N4C platform was released as a Beta version under a Freemium Business Model. It is free for municipalities and technicians to use, but further support can be accessed via consulting services provided by the tool owners.
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ThinkNature was a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) project designed to coordinate and support the uptake of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) across Europe. Its overarching goal was to contribute to the European Commission’s objectives of economic growth and sustainability by promoting NBS as promising alternatives for addressing major global challenges (e.g., climate change, food security, and social development).

🎯 Main Objective and Specific Goals

The central aim of ThinkNature was the development of a multi-stakeholder communication platform to support the understanding and promotion of NBS.

The project focused on four major domains for NBS application:

1. Sustainable Urbanisation of Cities
2. Restoration of Ecosystems
3. Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation
4. Risk Management and Resilience

Specific Objectives Achieved:

The project addressed several specific objectives to facilitate NBS uptake:

• Platform Development: Created the ThinkNature Platform, an integrated web solution for dialogue, interaction, and promotion of successful NBS.
• Capacity Building: Developed and disseminated knowledge tools like the ThinkNature Handbook on NbS (a comprehensive guide) and an NBS Case Study Portfolio (111 case studies).
• Barrier Identification: Identified regulatory, economic, and technical challenges/barriers to NBS deployment through interviews and analysis.
• Business Case: Developed financial tools and process frameworks, specifically the SITE4NBS and RISE4NBS methodologies, to illustrate the business case for NBS.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Established Regional Think and Do Tanks and organized brainstorming forums (e.g., in A Coruña and Paris) to involve stakeholders and influence policy.

💡 Key Results and Impact

ThinkNature’s major achievements and impacts fall into three core areas:

1. Establishing the Science Case and Community of Practice

• Science Case: Achieved through the development of an NBS Classification, the comprehensive Case Study Portfolio, and analysis of the barriers to implementation.
• Community: Built a community of practice using the ThinkNature Platform (which hosts discussion forums) and the established Regional Think and Do Tanks network.

2. NBS Capacity Building and Promotion

• The project successfully delivered a range of educational and outreach materials, including:
  • The ThinkNature Handbook (a concise guide on methodologies from project development to financing and policy).
  • A series of Webinars and a Summer School covering design, implementation, financing, and governance of NBS.
  • A Game App developed as a demonstrator for introductory and explanatory material.

3. Developing the Financial and Market Case

• ThinkNature provided the necessary tools and methodologies (SITE4NBS and RISE4NBS) to illustrate and develop the business case for NBS, enabling decision-makers and market actors to mobilize investment.
• The project also developed an International collaboration strategy and established a list of 126 international partners to promote dialogue and create market synergies for Europe.

The project effectively clustered and coordinated NBS activities across Europe, notably by coordinating dialogue on four task forces: data management, indicators, business/governance, and communication. All final outputs and deliverables are available on the ThinkNature Platform.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Scope

The project’s main goal was to be a major source of funding and a key player at the science-policy-society interface by:

1. Developing a Shared Vision: Creating a Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) to guide priorities.
2. Enlarging the Network: Expanding the consortium to enhance geographical and thematic coverage.
3. Implementing Joint Calls: Providing significant funding for transnational, transdisciplinary research projects.
4. Promoting Dialogue: Facilitating effective engagement between scientists, policy-makers, and society throughout the research process.

💡 Key Results and Achievements

Funding and Research Mobilization

• Significant Funding Source: Implemented two major joint calls totalling €45 million (€33M for 26 projects in the 2015-16 COFUND call and €11.8M for 10 projects in the 2018-19 call).
• Leverage Effect: Achieved an overall in-cash leverage effect of 5.2 for BiodivERsA partners and 7.2 for the EC, demonstrating efficient resource mobilization.
• Project Profile: Funded excellent, transnational, and multidisciplinary projects, typically medium-sized (5 to 7 partners from 3 to 5 countries for $\approx €1.2$M).
• Synthesis Research: Supported synthesis research (re-use of existing data) in collaboration with key European synthesis centers.

Network and Governance

• Enlargement and Internationalization: Grew from 31 to 39 partners across 25 countries, including partners from Overseas Regions & Territories (ORs & OCTs).
• Upgraded Governance: Set up a new structure with a Coordination team and a mixed Advisory Board composed of scientists and stakeholders.
• Alignment: Developed the SRIA and contributed to the subsequent Biodiversa+ SRIA, promoting the alignment of national research programs around shared priorities to overcome fragmentation in the ERA.

Science-Policy-Society Interface

• IPBES Collaboration: Maintained effective collaboration with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), including hosting the IPBES Technical Support Unit (TSU) for knowledge generation from 2019 onwards.
• Policy Tools: Developed several tools to enhance relevance and impact:
  • Policy Briefs based on funded projects’ results.
  • Citizen Science Toolkit and a Guide on policy relevance of research.
  • The Stakeholder Engagement Handbook was widely successful, downloaded $>10,000$ times in 2017.
• Innovative Assessment: Promoted innovative approaches for assessing the outcomes of funded projects, confirming that there is no trade-off between scientific excellence and the production of society/policy-relevant outputs.

🚀 Impact and Legacy

BiodivERsA3 largely exceeded its objectives and served as the foundation for the next major European initiative:

• Pioneering Partnership: The success of BiodivERsA led it to co-develop the European Partnership on Biodiversity (2021-2028) with the European Commission—the first Partnership of its kind covering all Research and Innovation topics.
• Societal Relevance: The project demonstrated a reinforced capacity to promote stakeholder engagement and the use of new knowledge to tackle societal challenges, with relevant project outputs considered in the IPBES Europe and Central Asia (ECA) assessment.
• Visionary Leadership: Defined a common forward-looking vision with the SRIA, helping to overcome fragmentation and feed into national strategies across the ERA.

The ESMERALDA project (Enhancing ecoSysteM sERvices mApping for poLicy and Decision mAking) aimed to develop guidance and a flexible methodology for Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES). The project’s main goal was to support EU Member States in implementing the EU Biodiversity Strategy’s Target 2 Action 5.

🎯 Overall Objectives and Approach

The core objective was to provide guidance for integrated ES mapping and assessment that could be used for sustainable decision-making across policy, business, society, and science at EU, national, and regional levels.

Four Project Strands

ESMERALDA organized its work along four activity phases:

1. Networking: Creation of a strong network and stakeholder support groups.
2. Developing Flexible Tools: Enhancing ES mapping and assessment methods.
3. Testing Tools: Applying tools in case studies across multiple scales.
4. Guidance and Methodologies: Providing tailored solutions for policy implementation.

Network Strength

A significant achievement was the creation of a vast cross-disciplinary network. The consortium grew to 37 partners covering all 28 EU Member States, plus Switzerland, Norway, and Israel. This extensive network was instrumental in sharing knowledge and expertise across Europe.

💡 Main Results and Impact

The project successfully delivered on its objective to create a flexible, integrated approach to MAES.

Flexible Methodology

The project successfully identified, systematized, and integrated biophysical, socio-cultural, and economic methods for ES mapping and assessment.

• Tiered Methodology: Flexibility was achieved through the creation of a tiered methodology that allows different approaches and complexity levels to be integrated based on local needs and resources.
• Conceptual Work: Advanced conceptual work on the CICES (Common International Classification of Ecosystem Services) classification scheme.
• Case Studies: Case studies across Europe were highly successful in engaging stakeholders and testing methods.

Key Products and Dissemination

ESMERALDA ensured open access and broad dissemination of its findings:

• ESMERALDA MAES Explorer: An easy-to-access online open access interface providing diverse end products.
• Publications: Included project reports, open access scientific publications, a textbook on mapping ES, and a glossary of ES mapping terminology.
• Guidance Tools: Created methods application cards and country/case study fact sheets illustrating MAES implementation.

Socio-Economic and Policy Impact

The project had a significant impact by directly supporting EU Member States in the challenging MAES implementation process:

• Policy Legitimacy: Provided external legitimacy for MAES, helping stakeholders approach policy-makers and governments.
• Dialogue and Awareness: Facilitated dialogue about MAES challenges and obstacles for policy uptake, and improved awareness for MAES among local authorities and people.
• Capacity Building: Helped strengthen capacity for carrying out MAES activities on both local and national levels, especially for countries lacking resources, by providing precise methodologies and real-life examples.

The HERCULES project (Sustainable futures for Europe’s heritage in cultural landscapes: Tools for understanding, managing, and protecting landscape functions and values) was an EU-funded initiative dedicated to empowering actors to protect, manage, and plan for sustainable cultural landscapes across Europe.

Cultural landscapes are areas that connect nature and society, having been shaped by human activities over millennia.

🎯 Key Challenges and Objectives

HERCULES addressed several obstacles hindering the sustainable development of cultural landscapes:

• Knowledge Gaps regarding landscape long-term development.
• Lack of understanding of the added values of cultural landscapes.
• Absence of support systems for management and policies at various levels.

💡 HERCULES Approach and Results

The project employed an innovative, participatory methodological procedure that integrated insights from multiple disciplines (geography, landscape archaeology, ecology, anthropology, information science) across local, national, and pan-European scales.

Methodology and Research

• Long-Term Understanding: Developed methods to understand the long-term development and transformation of cultural landscapes.
• Local Engagement: Worked directly with local communities in eight study landscapes across Europe.
• Policy and Mapping:
  • Developed a common cultural landscapes framework.
  • Created maps to assess the transformation of cultural landscapes in terms of land-use change at a pan-European scale.
• Stewardship Support: Identified ways to support civil-society driven landscape initiatives in their stewardship roles.

Outputs and Legacy

The project results were diverse and targeted at science, practice, and policy, including:

• Guidance on landscape stewardship and landscape labelling.
• Strategies for integrated landscape management for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Europe.
• Policy recommendations on climate change and resilience and promoting a landscape approach to environmental governance.

All outputs are centralized in the “HERCULES Knowledge Hub for Good Landscape Practices.”

The core solution involved maximizing the use of recycled and bio-based materials in different pavement layers, aiming for performance comparable to or greater than conventional pavements, while ensuring cost-effectiveness.

🎯 Core Objectives and Innovative Solutions

The main objective of APSE was to establish a new concept of asphalt pavement with ecologically oriented attributes. This was achieved by focusing on the two main components of asphalt mixture: bitumen (binder) and aggregates.

Innovative Materials and Technologies

Project Objectives (Validation & Demonstration)

1. Technical Validation: Design and validate the performance of new materials at the laboratory and pilot scales (e.g., testing with Accelerated Loading Testing at TRL’s Pavement Testing Facility).
2. Industrial Scaling: Scale up the production of innovative solutions to industrial capacity.
3. Real-World Demonstration: Validate performance in two full-scale road trials in Poland and Spain to check the influence of local materials and weather conditions.
4. Impact Analysis: Conduct a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and economic feasibility study to quantify environmental and cost benefits.

📈 Main Results and Economic/Environmental Impact

Technical Validation and Performance

• Lignin-PMB: Laboratory tests confirmed that the addition of lignin did not negatively impact the performance of the resulting asphalt mixtures compared to conventional PMB.
• Bio-fluxing Agents: The bio-flux agents allowed the replacement of up to 30% RAP in Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) using conventional HMA plants. Asphalt mixtures with the bio-agent showed better fatigue resistance and low-temperature properties than those without.
• C&DW Aggregates: Developed an “Advanced Stone Recycling” concept using NIR and color-sorting technologies to produce high-grade recycled concrete aggregates. C&DW can totally replace granular material in unbound layers and, when stabilized with cement, significantly increase the California Bearing Ratio (CBR).

Demonstration and Usability

• The road trials in Poland and Spain confirmed that the APSE pavement concept is suitable for industry and asset managers, demonstrating that performance is good as long as mixture designs are adapted to local conditions.

Environmental and Economic Profile

• LCA and Economic Modelling: The combined analysis showed that the use of APSE technologies is environmentally and cost-effective.
• Significant Cost Savings: The project demonstrated that there are significant cost savings throughout the life cycle of the road when compared to conventional pavement alternatives, primarily due to reduced material costs and energy consumption.

🖼️ Conceptual Context

The APSE concept directly responds to the challenge of making road infrastructure more sustainable by moving away from materials reliant on crude oil and virgin aggregate extraction. The focus on using waste products (lignin, C&DW) and higher levels of recycled asphalt (RAP) contributes to a circular economy approach in the construction sector.

Its primary goal was to address major urban challenges (land use conflicts, climate change, demographic shifts, health/wellbeing) through the innovative development and testing of UGI concepts, governance, and valuation methods.

🎯 Main Objectives and Three-Tier Approach

The project focused on three interlinked objectives, implemented through an integrative, iterative, and transdisciplinary process:

1. UGI as a Planning Concept: Develop UGI as a planning concept to integrate and promote biodiversity and ecosystem services (ESS), adapting it to local contexts.
2. Biocultural Diversity (BCD) and Governance: Apply the innovative Biocultural Diversity (BCD) perspective to develop governance arrangements that facilitate socio-ecological integration and local engagement in UGI planning.
3. Valuation and Market Integration: Explore how valuation and real market integration of biodiversity and ESS can favor the development of multifunctional green spaces.

Three-Tier Approach

GREEN SURGE structured its research and implementation across three tiers:

💡 Key Results and Conceptual Achievements

1. Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) and Ecosystem Services

• Multifunctional UGI: Identified key elements of multifunctional UGI (e.g., parks, woodlands, green roofs, community gardens) and provided evidence on the ESS and benefits they generate.
• Supply and Demand: Shed light on the balances and imbalances between supply and demand of ecosystem services in different European urban areas.
• Classification: Developed a novel classification of UGI based on synergies and trade-offs in ESS delivery, helping to understand how different green space types interact to support human wellbeing.

2. Biocultural Diversity (BCD)

• Conceptual Framework: Developed a conceptual framework for applying BCD in a Western urban context, which is crucial for understanding the integration between biological variety (BD) and the cultural specificities of UGI users.
  • The framework has three pillars: 1) how people value, perceive, and use BD; 2) cultural mechanisms and practices that maintain this diversity (stewardship); and 3) transdisciplinary research involving multiple knowledge sources.
• Empirical Findings: A large-scale field survey ($n=3,800$) in the ULLs found that a wide range of urban dwellers explicitly value high biodiversity levels and that medium/high BD areas contribute to good living conditions.

3. Valuation and Green Economy

• Integrated Valuation: Identified mechanisms for unlocking cash flows from urban green spaces and emphasized integrating different approaches (monetary and non-monetary) to value urban ESS.
• Methods and Tools:
  • Developed and mapped models of hedonic pricing to analyze property prices in relation to green space quality.
  • Created an innovative multi-criteria evaluation framework in the form of a do-it-yourself guideline for integrated valuation.
  • Developed a learning module/cardboard game for policy- and decision-makers on integrated valuation.

📚 Project Legacy

• Synthesis and Handbook: Produced a comprehensive report for policy makers (D8.5) and a Handbook (Manual) for UGI Planning (D1.3), which compiles findings, policy briefs, and guidelines tailored for practitioners.
• Learning Alliances (LAs): The ULLs, using the LA approach, ensured the “social robustness” of the project by securing the commitment of local authorities and fostering a process of shared learning and understanding among diverse stakeholders.
• Knowledge Brokerage: Work Package 8 focused on knowledge brokerage and dissemination, including coordinating a European Learning Alliance to spread the project results.

🎯 Key Objectives and Collaborative Approach

The core challenge addressed by TURAS was developing positive transition strategies and scenarios to enable cities to meet complex “grand challenges” like climate change, population shifts, and economic disturbance.

The TURAS Twinning Concept

A central and innovative feature of TURAS was its multiple twinning approach (illustrated in Figure 1 of the report summary). This design brought together:

• Academic Researchers
• Local Authorities (Decision Makers)
• SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises)

This structure ensured that research and development were oriented towards the most significant, real-world sustainability and resilience challenges facing the participating cities. This collaborative approach, which was considered “risky” at the time of the proposal, has since been adopted as a requirement in many Horizon 2020 calls, demonstrating TURAS’s pioneering role in the research arena.

TURAS City Network

The project involved eleven local authorities (including six European capital cities: Brussels, Dublin, London, Rome, Sofia, Ljubljana) and other regional cities (Nottingham, Málaga, Rotterdam, Stuttgart, Aalborg), representing a broad geographic and challenge spectrum across eleven European countries, plus an academic, local authority, and SME from Taiwan.

🛠️ Main Results and Work Package Contributions

The project’s outcomes were developed across seven interconnected research and development (RTD) work packages (Diagram 1 in the report summary), all focused on building resilience into urban planning and design:

• Work Package 1 (ICT Infrastructure): Developed a WebGIS database and G-ICT tool (e.g., a “Resilience Dashboard,” ‘geowiki’, and crowd-sourced mapping applications) to facilitate communication, data access, and community engagement at the sub-city/neighbourhood scale.
• Work Package 2 (Green Infrastructure): Focused on reducing the urban ecological footprint through public and private green infrastructure. Key outputs include the ‘urban green living room’ (a novel 3-D green wall system and mobile demonstrator), green infrastructure guidelines for local authorities, and experimental facilities (e.g., the ‘beetle bump’ and green roofs).
• Work Package 3 (Planning and Design): Developed transition strategies and scenarios for improved planning and urban industrial regeneration, including a compendium of case studies to capture innovation not documented in peer-reviewed literature.
• Work Package 4 (Adaptive Governance/Climate-Neutral Infrastructure): Created an analytical-policy framework for strategic urban planning and various tools for a-priori assessment of resilience measures, such as the HEAT Atlas (for energy planning) and models for assessing green roof potential and flood consequences.
• Work Package 5 (Urban Sprawl): Developed regulations and guidelines to manage urban sprawl, favoring the compact city approach. Research findings and modeling were accepted by the planning authorities in Sofia, leading to new policies being discussed and formulated.
• Work Package 6 (Economic Resilience): Reframed “Short Circuit Economies” into Sustainable and Resilient Economic Activity Locally (SREAL). Key outcomes include a database of Product-Service-Systems (PSS) business models and the development of an incubator model (iAgri). This work led to the spin-off company OSMOS.
• Work Package 7 (Integrated Strategies): A cross-cutting package that combined the outcomes of WPs 2-6 to produce an Integrated Transition Strategy (ITS) and a methodology to guide other European cities in creating their own strategies.

📈 Impact and Legacy

Economic and Societal Impact

• SME Benefit: The project had a strong impact on participating SMEs and fostered the creation of two new spin-off companies (including OSMOS), fulfilling the call’s expectation to create beneficial economic impact and involve SMEs strongly.
• Policy Integration: The co-design approach ensured high relevance, ownership, and the seamless integration of outcomes into the policies and practices of the local authority partners.

Dissemination and Toolkit

TURAS created a decision-maker toolkit on its legacy website, which is a “one-stop show” for stakeholders. It consists of four interconnected sections:

1. Integrated Transition Strategies (ITS): A step-by-step “how to” process.
2. TURAS Tools: 33 tools for achieving the transition towards resilience (two of which have become stand-alone companies).
3. TURAS Place-Based Strategies: Examples of transitioning tested in TURAS cities.
4. Pilot Demonstrations: Examples of successful pilot projects.

The OpenNESS project focused on translating the concepts of ecosystem services and natural capital into operational frameworks for sustainable land, water, and urban management. Key outcomes included advancing conceptual understanding, testing methods in real-life case studies, and creating guidance tools and the knowledge platform Oppla.

💡 Key Results and Contributions

The project achieved its overall objective through several significant outputs:

Conceptual and Operational Advancement

• Glossary and Reference Book: Created a Glossary with over 200 agreed terms and an Ecosystem Service Reference Book (27 Synthesis Papers) to provide a consistent conceptual foundation.
• Classification Guidance: Applied the Cascade Model and CICES categories in case studies and developed a translator tool (using HUGIN Bayesian Belief Network Software) to improve classification and cross-reference work with other frameworks (MA, TEEB, UKNEA). The Cascade Model (Figure 5 in the report) links society and nature through ecosystem services:
• OpenNESS Conceptual Nexus (ONEX): Developed ONEX, a “working environment” based on social media tools (TRELLO), to support deliberative processes and structure decision-making in the application of ecosystem service thinking. It uses the four societal challenges (human well-being, sustainable ecosystem management, governance, and competitiveness) as entry-points.

Real-World Application and Method Testing

• 27 Case Studies: Applied the concepts and methods in 27 real-life case studies across Europe and beyond, covering diverse social-ecological systems like urban planning, water management, and multi-functional landscapes (Figure 2 in the report).
• Stakeholder Engagement: Emphasized that ecosystem service knowledge is most effective when decision-makers and stakeholders are closely involved (participatory action research approach).
• Methodological Guidance: Tested 43 methods (biophysical, socio-cultural, monetary) and produced an integrative assessment framework, a set of decision trees for method selection, and 31 method factsheets, all available via Oppla.

Policy Analysis and Scenarios

• Policy Mainstreaming: Policy analysis showed that the ecosystem services concept is not yet mainstreamed across all EU policy sectors, being confined mainly to biodiversity, forestry, and agricultural policies. Policy briefs were created for key sectors.
• Scenario Development: Developed four EU level scenario storylines to assess future impacts of drivers on land-use, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. These scenarios were subsequently used in the IPBES report 2(d) for Europe and Central Asia.

Knowledge Dissemination and Legacy

• Oppla Platform: Project results were synthesized into Oppla, a joint knowledge platform with the OPERAs project, to collate information on ecosystem services, natural capital, and nature-based solutions.
• Dissemination: Contributed to conferences and summer schools, with 99 scientific articles and over 200 local outreach events.

🎯 Project Objectives Summary

The project was structured around seven specific objectives, integrating methodological advances and empirical analysis in an iterative cycle:

1. Advance Conceptual Understanding: Create operational frameworks for ecosystem services and natural capital.
2. Examine EU Regulatory Frameworks: Analyze how policies can enhance or restore ecosystem service benefits.
3. Develop Biophysical Methods: Refine approaches for mapping and modeling the biophysical control of ecosystem services.
4. Develop Hybrid Methodologies: Create methods combining monetary, non-monetary, and deliberative approaches to address trade-offs and conflicts.
5. Apply Concepts in Case Studies: Test methods in 27 place-based case studies with stakeholders.
6. Translate Results: Integrate outputs into a Menu of Multi-Scale Solutions and policy recommendations (now part of Oppla guidance tools).
7. Disseminate Results: Promote science-policy dialogue and broad audience uptake.

The work program (Figure 1 in the report) progressed through WPs for conceptual foundation (WP1), method development (WPs 2-4), application in case studies (WP5), integration and database creation (WP6), and dissemination (WP7).

ENROUTE (WORK YOUR RIDE) is a project focused on developing a unique mobile-and-mobility-first software that allows public transport passengers to earn free rides by shopping on their mobility apps. The service is designed with an innovative, mobility-first user experience, addressing challenges like motion sickness and offering value-added services like “Click & Collect” around the destination.

💡 Main Results and Achievements

During the initial reporting period, ENROUTE demonstrated the viability of its disruptive technology and established a strong market presence in Germany.

• Market Entry and Proof of Concept (POC): The company successfully set up its business in the German market.
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): A POC with DB Regio (Deutsche Bahn Regio) exceeded all set KPIs.
• Viability Confirmed: A feasibility study confirmed the viability of ENROUTE from a technical, practical, commercial, and financial point of view.
• Recognition and Growth: The startup is award-winning, having won the DB mindbox and participated in Startup Autobahn and Plug and Play Silicon Valley.
• Future Goal: The project aims to become an international company by 2025, connecting the mobility and e-commerce markets, which are valued at a combined worth of more than $2 Trillion.

🚀 Progress Beyond State-of-the-Art and Impact

ENROUTE goes beyond the current state of the art by being the only solution specifically focused on a revolutionary shopping experience during the commute.

The project provides significant socio-economic and societal benefits, aligning with the EU’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for sustainable cities:

• Encouraging Sustainable Mobility: Reduced costs for rides in mass-transit and shared mobility platforms encourage city dwellers to leave their private cars at home, shifting them toward alternative services.
• Combating Climate Change: A more appealing mass transit system contributes to the war against climate change by resulting in fewer cars and lower emissions.
• Supporting Local Economy: The service strengthens local businesses by offering them a platform to reach greater audiences, promoting community development over reliance on e-commerce giants.
• Reducing Pollutants: The “Click & Collect” option directs users to the nearest retailer, reducing the distance traveled and thus decreasing car pollutant emissions. Similarly, the delivery service consolidates trips, using only one car for retailer-to-customer delivery.