Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Urban ReLeaf (Citizen-powered data ecosystems for inclusive and green urban transitions)
Período documentado: 2023-01-01 hasta 2024-04-30
Urban ReLeaf promotes collaboration between local communities and public authorities to address urgent climate issues related to urban greenspace planning, heat stress, and air pollution. We nurture citizen-powered environmental monitoring campaigns that bring the benefits of nature to everyone. Our mission focuses on community placemaking, public sector innovation, and tailored strategies to reach our common goal of creating greener, more just and resilient cities for all.
The main objectives of Urban ReLeaf are to:
• Understand current urban greening policies in six pilot cities and co-develop opportunities for citizen participation to complement existing practices.
• Mobilize and empower local communities in issues of public interest surrounding urban green infrastructure and environmental stewardship.
• Support the long-term inclusion of active and passive data from citizens within official data streams for urban monitoring, planning and innovation in public policy.
• Offer flexible and innovative ways of governance that can underpin inclusive green urban planning in support of the European Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Establish a community of practice and an accelerator programme to encourage knowledge exchange and training across relevant actors, reaching beyond the six pilot cities.
At the heart of Urban ReLeaf are six pilot cities. Athens is undergoing a greening transformation with a new tree registry the combines Earth Observation and crowdsourcing methods to provide critical data for better management of greenspaces. Cascais engages citizens in sharing perceptions and thermal comfort levels while using greenspaces to validate the effectiveness of its parks. Meanwhile in Dundee, a city facing increasing grey infrastructure in deprived areas, actions to enhance the accessibility of greenspaces are co-developed with citizens and stakeholders. Mannheim has a heat action plan to safeguard its most vulnerable residents but has identified critical data gaps. Citizen observations of trees and thermal comfort, when integrated with Earth Observation and official data streams, will aid the delivery of climate adaptation measures. Riga engages diverse audiences to address concerns about air quality and greenspace usage, using low-cost sensor networks. Finally, in Utrecht, data on temperature, humidity and heat stress, collected by and for citizens, will help them reduce the urban heat island effect and shape effective mitigation strategies.
The main objectives of Urban ReLeaf are to:
• Understand current urban greening policies in six pilot cities and co-develop opportunities for citizen participation to complement existing practices.
• Mobilize and empower local communities in issues of public interest surrounding urban green infrastructure and environmental stewardship.
• Support the long-term inclusion of active and passive data from citizens within official data streams for urban monitoring, planning and innovation in public policy.
• Offer flexible and innovative ways of governance that can underpin inclusive green urban planning in support of the European Green Deal and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Establish a community of practice and an accelerator programme to encourage knowledge exchange and training across relevant actors, reaching beyond the six pilot cities.
At the heart of Urban ReLeaf are six pilot cities. Athens is undergoing a greening transformation with a new tree registry the combines Earth Observation and crowdsourcing methods to provide critical data for better management of greenspaces. Cascais engages citizens in sharing perceptions and thermal comfort levels while using greenspaces to validate the effectiveness of its parks. Meanwhile in Dundee, a city facing increasing grey infrastructure in deprived areas, actions to enhance the accessibility of greenspaces are co-developed with citizens and stakeholders. Mannheim has a heat action plan to safeguard its most vulnerable residents but has identified critical data gaps. Citizen observations of trees and thermal comfort, when integrated with Earth Observation and official data streams, will aid the delivery of climate adaptation measures. Riga engages diverse audiences to address concerns about air quality and greenspace usage, using low-cost sensor networks. Finally, in Utrecht, data on temperature, humidity and heat stress, collected by and for citizens, will help them reduce the urban heat island effect and shape effective mitigation strategies.
In the first 16 months of the project stakeholder dialogues were organized in the six pilot cities to collaboratively determine how citizen observations could be used more broadly in shaping policy and research on urban greening. The dialogues included a series of interviews with local authorities to assess the policy landscape in Urban ReLeaf cities and establish links to citizen science opportunities. Furthermore, participatory workshops with key stakeholders were held to jointly define strategies for citizen's observations (e.g. sensors, mobile app, wearables, etc.) and to identify how they can complement official measures. A specific focus was put on inclusiveness and on how to reach, engage and sustain participation of vulnerable groups. Based on the workshops, strategy blueprints for Urban ReLeaf city pilots were developed outlining concrete inclusive engagement guideline for different target groups.
In parallel, a comprehensive catalogue of existing data sets relevant to the implementation of the city pilots was created. This mapping of the data ecosystem was the first step in leveraging existing data streams and building civic technologies for citizens to actively contribute to the mapping, monitoring and maintenance of green infrastructure.
Face-to-face meetings were held with all city pilot partners to elaborate in-depth action plans at the city level. These place-based operational plans ensure that Urban ReLeaf is well positioned to support the widespread participation of citizens in the monitoring and proper care of urban green infrastructure. The phased action plans set out concrete implementation steps, anticipated timelines, and key milestones to deliver citizen science and data collection campaigns.
In addition, technical and functional user requirements were developed alongside the campaign design to develop Urban ReLeaf tools and services (i.e. mobile apps, low-cost sensors, etc.). The Urban ReLeaf technologies developed and prepared during the first project period include a participatory tree registry (mobile and web app), a perception reporting tool (web and mobile app), a low-cost wearable sensor to record temperature and relative humidity (hardware sensing devices, mobile and web app) as well as low-cost air quality monitors (w/ visualisation platform).
To facilitate Europe-wide exchange in urban greenspace planning, climate change adaptation, and innovative governance, the Urban ReLeaf Community of Practice (CoP) was launched in October 2023 at the European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) in Cascais, Portugal. This initiated a series of CoP events at conferences across Europe, focusing on citizen empowerment through citizen science, advancing equitable urban greenspace planning, and envisioning climate-resilient cities.
In parallel, a comprehensive catalogue of existing data sets relevant to the implementation of the city pilots was created. This mapping of the data ecosystem was the first step in leveraging existing data streams and building civic technologies for citizens to actively contribute to the mapping, monitoring and maintenance of green infrastructure.
Face-to-face meetings were held with all city pilot partners to elaborate in-depth action plans at the city level. These place-based operational plans ensure that Urban ReLeaf is well positioned to support the widespread participation of citizens in the monitoring and proper care of urban green infrastructure. The phased action plans set out concrete implementation steps, anticipated timelines, and key milestones to deliver citizen science and data collection campaigns.
In addition, technical and functional user requirements were developed alongside the campaign design to develop Urban ReLeaf tools and services (i.e. mobile apps, low-cost sensors, etc.). The Urban ReLeaf technologies developed and prepared during the first project period include a participatory tree registry (mobile and web app), a perception reporting tool (web and mobile app), a low-cost wearable sensor to record temperature and relative humidity (hardware sensing devices, mobile and web app) as well as low-cost air quality monitors (w/ visualisation platform).
To facilitate Europe-wide exchange in urban greenspace planning, climate change adaptation, and innovative governance, the Urban ReLeaf Community of Practice (CoP) was launched in October 2023 at the European Urban Resilience Forum (EURESFO) in Cascais, Portugal. This initiated a series of CoP events at conferences across Europe, focusing on citizen empowerment through citizen science, advancing equitable urban greenspace planning, and envisioning climate-resilient cities.
Urban ReLeaf implements ambitious citizen monitoring and engagement campaigns in six European cities and provides a unique contribution to a more widespread and inclusive participation of citizens in the monitoring, observation, and protection of the urban environment. It fosters the empowerment of citizens to contribute observations and data to open knowledge and public decision-making systems, leveraging and enhancing the current use of wearables and other user and low-cost technologies for environmental observations.
Besides enabling more inclusive engagement in citizen science activities, Urban ReLeaf goes beyond the state of the art by pioneering processes that enable public authorities to adopt citizen-powered data streams in decision-making. Additionally, the project will explore and facilitate the contribution of citizen observations in-situ components of existing observation systems, such as Copernicus (Urban Atlas), European research infrastructures and GEOSS. Overall, it will contribute to the European research and innovation system, supporting participatory urban green infrastructure planning to achieve European Green Deal objectives.
Besides enabling more inclusive engagement in citizen science activities, Urban ReLeaf goes beyond the state of the art by pioneering processes that enable public authorities to adopt citizen-powered data streams in decision-making. Additionally, the project will explore and facilitate the contribution of citizen observations in-situ components of existing observation systems, such as Copernicus (Urban Atlas), European research infrastructures and GEOSS. Overall, it will contribute to the European research and innovation system, supporting participatory urban green infrastructure planning to achieve European Green Deal objectives.