DURATION: 01.09.2020 to 31.08.2024
BUDGET: 918,437.50€/11,170,720.25€
FUNDING: H2020 Visionary and integrated solutions to improve well-being and health in cities, Innovation Action
ABOUT EUPOLIS
euPOLIS: Integrated NBS-based Urban Planning Methodology for Enhancing the Health & Well-being of Citizens – the euPOLIS Approach, is a four year H2020 Innovation Action project funded by topic visionary and integrated solutions to improve well-being and health in cities. Urban planners and engineers are integrating nature-based solutions (NBS) to address contemporary environmental, social and economic challenges. euPOLIS project will deploy natural systems to enhance public health and well-being and create resilient urban ecosystems. It will design a structured approach that integrates existing natural and engineered urban systems and define their joint social, cultural and economic effects. The project will aim to regenerate and rehabilitate urban ecosystems to create inclusive and accessible urban spaces. It will address key challenges such as low environmental quality and low biodiversity in public spaces, water-stressed resources and undervalued use of space.
euPOLIS solutions will be demonstrated in 4 European cities: Belgrade, Lodz, Piraeus and Gladsaxe while four follower cities: Bogota, Palermo, Limassol and Trebinje, will replicate and demonstrate the advantages of our innovations via mentoring and coaching.
euPOLIS OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of the project are to:
- systematically implement an innovative NBS-based urban planning methodology, based on the Blue Green Solutions (BGS) paradigm which is designed to create spatial and functional conditions that will enhance not only the Public Health and Well Being of citizens but also the urban metabolism, the social cohesion and the resilience of cities to Climate Change (CC) and natural disasters.
- build an intervention-aimed liveability model rooted in community needs and engaging community diverse potentials.
- design and implement the euPOLIS platform to support and enhance participatory processes in re-designing and transforming public spaces, while promoting new governance and new financing models.
- design and implement customised spatial solutions for each case study and then monitor and assess their impact regarding Public Health and Well Being , as well as social and environmental results.
- replicate the advantages of euPOLIS innovations via mentoring and coaching of the five project follower cities.
- establish long-term data platforms securing open, consistent data points about the impacts of the deployed approaches, mainly regarding Public Health and Well Being , and ensure interoperability with other relevant data infrastructures for effective public consultation, exchange and sharing of practices/experiences.
- identify sound business models, replicable to other markets and develop new resources activation techniques.
- widely and effectively communicate and disseminate project results to various audiences through targeted activities, clustering with related projects and initiatives, aiming to spread the euPOLIS concept.
OUR ROLE IN THE PROJECT
In euPOLIS, our role is to develop technology for metabolism-based design and assessment of NBS in cities.The developed methodology and customised urban metabolism tools will facilitate the selection and design of appropriate NBS interventions through the identification of synergistic opportunities and trade-offs and the assessment of effects on urban ecosystem services. The customised toolbox, mainly based on the Urban Water Optioneering Tool (UWOT), will be implemented in the euPOLIS pilots to assist in NBS evaluation, selection, and design.
Our team is also leading the task of developing the euPolis Assessment Framework by identifying appropriate indicators and metrics against which the NBS performance will be assessed across different categories of interest, including health and well-being, environmental, urban development, social and economy/business.The indicator framework will assist in the site initial screening and baseline assessment of the pilot sites, as well as the evaluation of the NBSs implemented in each site through tailor-made indicator lists.
Finally our team is a supporting partner to the City of Piraeus and is providing appropriate technical guidance on environmental monitoring, NBS selection and design, stakeholder engagement processes and other related activities.
