Periodic Reporting for period 2 - VARCITIES (VISIONARY NATURE BASED ACTIONS FOR HEALTH, WELLBEING & RESILIENCE IN CITIES (VARCITIES))
Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31
In an increasingly urbanizing world, governments and international corporations strive to increase productivity of cities, recognized as economy growth hubs, as well as ensuring better quality of life and living conditions to citizens. Although significant effort is performed by international organizations, researchers, etc. to transform the challenges of Cities into opportunities, the visions of our urban future are trending towards bleak. Social services and health facilities are significantly affected in negative ways owed to the increase in urban populations (70% by 2050). Air pollution and urban exacerbation of heat islands is exacerbating. Nature will struggle to compensate in the future City, as rural land is predicted to shrink by 30% affecting livability. VARCITIES puts the citizen and the “human community” in the eye of the future cities’ vision. Future cities should evolve to be human centered cities. The vision of VARCITIES is to implement real, visionary ideas and add value by establishing sustainable models for increasing H&WB of citizens (children, young people, middle age, elderly) that are exposed to diverse climatic conditions and challenges around Europe (e.g. from harsh winters in Skelleftea-SE to hot summers in Chania-GR, from deprived areas in Novo mesto-SI to increased pollution in Malta) through shared public spaces that make cities livable and welcoming.
VARCITIES has the following specific objectives:
To contribute to the shaping of future cities by developing nature-based (NBS) solutions integrating DSC innovation with high replication potential in eight European cities.
To design visionary NBS solutions to address the H&WB of citizens by co-creating forward-planning solutions with the public, local authorities and industry.
To assess the sustainability and impact of interventions through developing new and advancing existing H&WB KPIs based on inputs received from the municipalities, satellite data, citizens, etc.
To achieve knowledge exchange, maximisation of EU investments, advancements beyond the state of the art, through clustering with other European, regional, local initiatives, and platforms.
To improve the sustainable transition to smart and future cities by creating a framework of GBF models of the NBS that considers the unique characteristics of the interventions with the support of the Municipalities.
To measure KPIs and assess the improvements achieved by the interventions on H&WB, DSC contexts through a set of monitoring systems.
To include, in the co-design process, a number of STKs and inspire sustainable and resilient future smart cities which embody principles established according to the New Urban Agenda for the EU, MAES, Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations by developing a robust dissemination, communication, and capacity building plan.
To transfer, upscale and sustain best practices from VARCITIES through the development of the Healthy Cities Helix – a network of industrial actors, exploiters and investors that will outlast the project to ensure high replication potential and exploitation of the solutions proposed in VARCITIES.
VARCITIES has the following specific objectives:
To contribute to the shaping of future cities by developing nature-based (NBS) solutions integrating DSC innovation with high replication potential in eight European cities.
To design visionary NBS solutions to address the H&WB of citizens by co-creating forward-planning solutions with the public, local authorities and industry.
To assess the sustainability and impact of interventions through developing new and advancing existing H&WB KPIs based on inputs received from the municipalities, satellite data, citizens, etc.
To achieve knowledge exchange, maximisation of EU investments, advancements beyond the state of the art, through clustering with other European, regional, local initiatives, and platforms.
To improve the sustainable transition to smart and future cities by creating a framework of GBF models of the NBS that considers the unique characteristics of the interventions with the support of the Municipalities.
To measure KPIs and assess the improvements achieved by the interventions on H&WB, DSC contexts through a set of monitoring systems.
To include, in the co-design process, a number of STKs and inspire sustainable and resilient future smart cities which embody principles established according to the New Urban Agenda for the EU, MAES, Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations by developing a robust dissemination, communication, and capacity building plan.
To transfer, upscale and sustain best practices from VARCITIES through the development of the Healthy Cities Helix – a network of industrial actors, exploiters and investors that will outlast the project to ensure high replication potential and exploitation of the solutions proposed in VARCITIES.
In the context of WP3, a step by step sketching guidance for the visionary solutions (VS) development has been provided (D3.5). The partners involved in the creation of a knowledge baseline to characterize and understand pilot needs, challenges, barriers and drivers (D3.1 D3.2 D3.3) while the potential multiple VS benefits, from a natural, digital and socio-cultural perspective were identified (D3.4).
The approach for the pilots to identify local stakeholders was outlined (D4.1) from different groups, affiliations, expertise and backgrounds (D4.3). The activities needed per co-creation stage were described in the co-creation strategy (D4.2). Based on this, 61 co-creation activities (workshops, townhalls, surveys etc) have been designed and implemented so far.
The VS Implementation Framework (D6.1) was developed which was developed through an integrated approach including technology, regulatory, financial, environmental and social perspectives. Implementation and execution plan for all pilots (D6.2) were also developed providing the individual implementation plans that adapted to the specific pilots’ needs. In total,3 NBS, 12 digital and 3 sociocultural VS components are currently in operation stage.
A review of the proposed H&WB KPIs was conducted to understand if they were still relevant to each site and whether they were common across sites. The alignment of a few KPIs with the TFII Handbook has also been ensured. A KPI-based monitoring system enables pilot cities to measure KPIs and analyze the outcomes of their interventions was also developed (D7.1). Thus far, 48 KPIs are already monitored from all pilots.
The IoT sensors requirements report (D5.1) provides an extensive review of the available sensors on the market for monitoring different aspects connected to H&WB and urban green spaces. Based on the existing market offerings, the development and production of three custom sensors were necessitated (D5.3). The VARCITIES H&WB platform (D5.8) serves as a conduit between the real world and its digital representation (digital twin) on a user-friendly manner. This platform built on WP5’s intermediate results (D5.2 D5.4 D5.5 D5.6 D5.7).
WP8 and WP9 worked together to create, promote and populate an online community of stakeholder called the Healthy Cities Helix. This community is aimed to bring together specialist in NBS and smart cities for knowledge exchange. A Communication and Dissemination strategy (D9.1) was also established.
The approach for the pilots to identify local stakeholders was outlined (D4.1) from different groups, affiliations, expertise and backgrounds (D4.3). The activities needed per co-creation stage were described in the co-creation strategy (D4.2). Based on this, 61 co-creation activities (workshops, townhalls, surveys etc) have been designed and implemented so far.
The VS Implementation Framework (D6.1) was developed which was developed through an integrated approach including technology, regulatory, financial, environmental and social perspectives. Implementation and execution plan for all pilots (D6.2) were also developed providing the individual implementation plans that adapted to the specific pilots’ needs. In total,3 NBS, 12 digital and 3 sociocultural VS components are currently in operation stage.
A review of the proposed H&WB KPIs was conducted to understand if they were still relevant to each site and whether they were common across sites. The alignment of a few KPIs with the TFII Handbook has also been ensured. A KPI-based monitoring system enables pilot cities to measure KPIs and analyze the outcomes of their interventions was also developed (D7.1). Thus far, 48 KPIs are already monitored from all pilots.
The IoT sensors requirements report (D5.1) provides an extensive review of the available sensors on the market for monitoring different aspects connected to H&WB and urban green spaces. Based on the existing market offerings, the development and production of three custom sensors were necessitated (D5.3). The VARCITIES H&WB platform (D5.8) serves as a conduit between the real world and its digital representation (digital twin) on a user-friendly manner. This platform built on WP5’s intermediate results (D5.2 D5.4 D5.5 D5.6 D5.7).
WP8 and WP9 worked together to create, promote and populate an online community of stakeholder called the Healthy Cities Helix. This community is aimed to bring together specialist in NBS and smart cities for knowledge exchange. A Communication and Dissemination strategy (D9.1) was also established.
VARCITIES recognises and responds to the European Commission’s impetus and strategic view of the opportunity for nature-based economic scenarios to have positive potential to increase the nature-based use of farmland, forests, and urban areas, in turn creating additional jobs and increasing the aggregate socioeconomic benefits of ecosystem services. VARCITIES also ensures that the spirit of our approach prioritises an integrative, trans-disciplinary focus that considers the entire ecosystem, including all members of society, hence our methodological framework is underpinned by social science-based approaches that differ from traditional regional planning and ecosystem management approaches which are enacted at smaller spatial scales, and which tend to focus on imperatives associated with ecological science.
VARCITIES pilots are informed by the unique and respective needs of the local societies with the implementation of all pilots informed by societal input and specific contextual evolution of each pilot, and the strategic policy from local municipality and city state actors. Of key significance in VARCITIES is appreciating that NBS interventions cannot merely be more efficient ways of managing ecosystems to address particular problems, but these interventions must be symbiotic and compatible with the local cultural and jurisdictional norms and practices. VARCITIES will evidence a credible and positive economic and societal impact to citizens who will benefit from the results of the project, including our NBS approaches and interventions that aim to be an underlying customisable fabric of an entire ecosystem of fully connected intelligent sensors, capable of delivering benefits at every rung of the NBS ecosystem ladder, and transforming the daily lives of European citizens.
VARCITIES pilots are informed by the unique and respective needs of the local societies with the implementation of all pilots informed by societal input and specific contextual evolution of each pilot, and the strategic policy from local municipality and city state actors. Of key significance in VARCITIES is appreciating that NBS interventions cannot merely be more efficient ways of managing ecosystems to address particular problems, but these interventions must be symbiotic and compatible with the local cultural and jurisdictional norms and practices. VARCITIES will evidence a credible and positive economic and societal impact to citizens who will benefit from the results of the project, including our NBS approaches and interventions that aim to be an underlying customisable fabric of an entire ecosystem of fully connected intelligent sensors, capable of delivering benefits at every rung of the NBS ecosystem ladder, and transforming the daily lives of European citizens.