Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REACHOUT (RESILIENCE IN EUROPE THROUGH ACTIVATING CITY HUBS REACHING OUT TO USERS WITH TRIPLE-A CLIMATE ADAPTATION TOOLS)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-04-01 al 2024-03-31
REACHOUT aims to improve the uptake and success of certain climate services. It brings together municipalities, climate service providers and scientists to co-develop and test a set of improved services in seven city hubs that serve as living labs. Cities are complex decision-making environments with multiple challenges such as spatial planning, mobility, housing, urban greening, climate mitigation, and adaptation. Therefore, the REACHOUT project is piloting a triple-A approach in which climate services not only address the Analysis of climate risk, but also support setting Ambition and defining Action for broader climate resilient urban development. The hypothesis is that through this integrated approach, the uptake of climate services is accelerated and the needs of the cities are better addressed. The REACHOUT project presents a diverse group of European cities that create “Hubs for co-creation of climate service innovations”, i.e. communities that co-create how climate information becomes digestible and value-adding. With 4 small size cities (Lillestrom, Cork, Gdynia and Logrono) and 3 large cities (Milan, Athens, Amsterdam), REACHOUT covers both heat and flood related hazards as well as advanced and less advanced adaptation capacities.
All city hubs are taken through the same journey: 1) Perform a needs-assessment resulting in the definition of requirements for climate services; 2) Co-develop tools to support urban development and adaptation; 3) Apply the tools, following the Triple-A phases; 4) Address barriers for uptake and develop modes for sustainable implementation. This “front-end development with the cities” is central in the project. It takes place in three development cycles, so all cities have the chance to address all 3 A’s. At the “back-end” of the project we start from existing tools and climate services offered by European platforms, that are being piloted in the city hubs. The collected learnings and tool improvement therefore is used to develop a generic triple A toolkit that can be used for upscaling beyond the 7 city hubs.
- In addition a novel City hub business model for the implementation and sustainable exploitation of climate services within cities has materialized in period 2 and will be further applied to the cities in the consortium during period 3.
- By continued co-development and testing of climate services into the second year of the project with the city partners has further enhanced the local impact. The collection of REACHOUT services is already accessible in many user oriented ways through the Triple-A toolkit in our web portal and training material and guidances have been expanded.
- Collaboration with other projects especially under the mission on Adaptation and Green deal has intensified. Already 4 REACHOUT tools are available though the Mission portal's tool catalogue meant to serve European regions.
At the end of the project a proven set of services within the triple-A toolkit will remain accessible through a dedicated webpage, that is supported by best practice examples (Demonstrators under development in period 3), training material and thorough guidance. The services will also be accessible through many other channels in our expanding network of projects and platforms. Business and implementation models will have been tested for their ability to further sustain the services. This will allow others beyond the 7 REACHOUT cities to use these services to reach better integrated decisions on climate adaptation, mitigation and urban development.