{"id":1343,"date":"2025-11-22T00:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adrianibric.eu\/wp\/?p=1343"},"modified":"2025-11-24T20:49:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:49:46","slug":"nature-based-urban-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianibric.eu\/wp\/eu-projects-reviews-green-nbs\/nature-based-urban-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Nature Based Urban Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <strong>NATURVATION<\/strong> project (<strong>Nature Based Urban Innovation<\/strong>) was designed to help cities achieve <strong>urban sustainability<\/strong> by supporting a step-change in the way they use <strong>Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)<\/strong>. NBS involve creating, restoring, or harnessing blue\/green infrastructure (like green roofs, parks, or restored rivers) to improve urban life, enhance resilience, and address multiple challenges simultaneously (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, and well-being).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udfaf Core Goals and Approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite growing interest, a significant gap existed between the potential of NBS and their practical implementation. NATURVATION focused on three core goals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Evidence Base and Assessment:<\/strong> Develop the evidence base and assessment processes required to evaluate the <strong>benefits<\/strong> of NBS for sustainability.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Innovation and Implementation:<\/strong> Investigate the innovation taking place, focusing on <strong>governance arrangements, business models, finance, and citizen engagement<\/strong> needed to implement NBS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Partnership and Capacity:<\/strong> Work with municipal governments and stakeholders through <strong>Urban Regional Innovation Partnerships (URIPs)<\/strong> and a Task Force to create the <strong>knowledge, capacity, and tools<\/strong> for delivering NBS on the ground.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udca1 Main Results and Key Findings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The project successfully generated a vast body of knowledge and practical tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>1. Building the Evidence Base<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Urban Nature Atlas:<\/strong> Created the <strong>first Urban Nature Atlas for Europe<\/strong>, which is a key unique achievement. The Atlas received over 49,000 visits and is continually cross-referenced.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Benefits and Values:<\/strong> Found that NBS are generating significant benefits, and that it is <strong>possible to value these benefits in monetary terms<\/strong> while still recognizing the diversity of values generated.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Tensions and Trade-offs:<\/strong> Identified a critical research gap, finding that past efforts often celebrated the multi-functional benefits while paying <strong>less attention to the tensions and trade-offs<\/strong> (e.g., related to social and environmental justice) that new forms of value introduce into the urban landscape.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>2. Tools for Uptake and Decision Support<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A suite of tools was developed to aid decision-making and project design:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Urban Nature Navigator:<\/strong> A decision-support tool that enables <strong>multi-criteria decision-making<\/strong> for diverse NBS.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Urban Nature Explorer:<\/strong> Supports the <strong>design stage<\/strong> of project development by helping to assess potential and trade-offs between different NBS options.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>3. Capacity Building and Communication<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>URIPs Experience:<\/strong> Produced the <strong>&#8220;Making Nature Bloom&#8221;<\/strong> report, co-produced by the URIPs, to share their real-world experiences\u2014both good and bad\u2014of developing NBS in six European cities.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Training:<\/strong> Developed the <strong>Urban Nature MOOC (Massive Open Online Course)<\/strong>, which had 54,000 original visitors and 14,000 course enrolments, significantly building capacity across the global community.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dissemination:<\/strong> Achieved widespread outreach, including over 140,000 website visits, publications in 20 different journals, and a final conference involving over 600 participants online.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\ude80 Impact and Legacy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>NATURVATION successfully achieved impact through three pathways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><thead><tr><td><strong>Pathway<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Description<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Build Capacity<\/strong><\/td><td>Achieved through the <strong>Urban Nature Atlas, Navigator, and MOOC<\/strong>, and through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing among the URIPs and ICLEI cities.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Enable Uptake<\/strong><\/td><td>Focused on workshops for specific audiences (finance, business models) and developing tools that can be <strong>integrated into existing urban planning programs<\/strong>.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Foster Cultural Change<\/strong><\/td><td>Focused on embedding NBS into <strong>local and national policy and practice<\/strong>, enabling a <strong>shift in mindset<\/strong> within partner organizations and supporting the global NBS agenda.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The project&#8217;s legacy includes taking the <strong>Urban Nature Atlas forward with increased global coverage<\/strong>, developing the <strong>Urban Nature Explorer for commercial use<\/strong>, and ensuring results are available through the <strong>Network Nature platform<\/strong> and the <strong>CitiesWithNature<\/strong> global network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-btn__default-btn uagb-btn-tablet__default-btn uagb-btn-mobile__default-btn uagb-block-52fb34af\"><div class=\"uagb-buttons__wrap uagb-buttons-layout-wrap \">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-buttons-child uagb-buttons__outer-wrap uagb-block-bb1557ad wp-block-button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__wrapper\"><a class=\"uagb-buttons-repeater wp-block-button__link\" aria-label=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/206400\/factsheet\/en\" rel=\"follow noopener\" target=\"_self\" role=\"button\"><div class=\"uagb-button__link\">Go to the official page<\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The NATURVATION project (Nature Based Urban Innovation) was designed to help cities achieve urban sustainability by supporting a step-change in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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NATURVATION project (Nature Based Urban Innovation) was designed to help cities achieve urban sustainability by supporting a step-change in 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