Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ARCADIA (TrAnsformative climate ResilienCe by nAture-baseD solutions in the contInentAl bio-geographical region)
Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30
Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly recognized as effective responses to climate adaptation, but their success depends on context-sensitive design, coherent integration, and strong societal acceptance. ARCADIA mobilises eight European regions and communities - Lower Austria (AT), Plovdiv (BG), Zabreb &Krapina-Zagrjw (HR), Funen (DK), Emilia-Romagna (IT), Centru (RO), Podravje (SI), Skåne (SE) - to accelerate the adoption of NbS and to assist regional actors in accessing evidence-based knowledge, advanced modelling tools, and opportunities for co-learning and networking.
The project combines scientific innovation with participatory approaches. It aims to create enabling conditions for regeneration through NbS by analysing perceptions of risks and solutions, co-designing behavioural and economic incentives, and developing robust governance and financial tools.
Strategic objectives include:
-Co-designing regional strategies for transformative adaptation based on actionable NbS with proven feasibility and social value
-Assisting and empowering communities, public administrations, and businesses in implementing adaptation measures
-Stimulating collaborative knowledge-building and capacity development
-Promoting coherence, synergies, and innovation across value chains and governance levels
-Advancing the EU research and innovation agenda on NbS and contributing to the EU Mission on Adaptation
The project combines scientific innovation with participatory approaches. It aims to create enabling conditions for regeneration through NbS by analysing perceptions of risks and solutions, co-designing behavioural and economic incentives, and developing robust governance and financial tools.
Strategic objectives include:
-Co-designing regional strategies for transformative adaptation based on actionable NbS with proven feasibility and social value
-Assisting and empowering communities, public administrations, and businesses in implementing adaptation measures
-Stimulating collaborative knowledge-building and capacity development
-Promoting coherence, synergies, and innovation across value chains and governance levels
-Advancing the EU research and innovation agenda on NbS and contributing to the EU Mission on Adaptation
During the first 18 months, all 5 model regions – Emilia-Romagna (IT), Lower Austria (AT), Zagreb & Krapina-Zagorje (HR), Skåne (SE), and Funen (DK) – achieved their expected objectives. They mapped governance systems and stakeholder networks for climate change adaptation, assessed climate risks, defined regional priorities and visions, and launched the first round of co-innovation labs. These labs address climate challenges through the design, testing, and implementation of NbS, while engaging local stakeholders and citizens. Key achievements include:
-ER: Development of advanced modelling to evaluate effects of sustainable forest management on ecosystem services, including slope stabilisation, hydrogeological risk reduction, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity protection
-LA: Launch of labs on agricultural land-use planning, hedgerows, and climate-resilient business parks, supported by strong stakeholder alliances and governance structures
-KZZ: Co-innovation labs addressing hazards such as urban heat, floods, landslides, and green infrastructure connectivity, focusing on blue-green infrastructure restoration in Zagreb, and slope stabilisation and biodiversity in Krapina-Zagorje
-Skåne: A comprehensive NbS strategy with the Malmö Urban Landscape Lab in an old industrial harbour, plus labs on water governance and agricultural adaptation. Insights will feed into Skåne’s Regional Master Plan, showing how NbS can be mainstreamed in spatial planning
-Funen: First lab focused on an action plan for urban water management in Odense Municipality and sub-projects for Vollsmose. Sustainable urban drainage systems with NbS are the focus of next labs
Fellow regions – Plovdiv (BG), Centru (RO), and Podravje (SI) – mobilised stakeholder networks across the quadruple helix, with twinning activities linking them to model regions.
Across regions, citizens were engaged through deliberative processes, workshops, hackathons, and climathons.
Scientific partners supported regions with tailored tools such as the ARCADIA Scorecard for transformational readiness, a Guide of guidances to choose NbS and Blue-Green Infrastructure, and a framework for integrating justice and equity into NbS design and implementation; a Climate Risk Assessment toolkit is also at an advanced stage.
At the consortium level, integration and knowledge exchange were pursued, communication and dissemination frameworks established, and robust governance, quality control, and ethical and data management plans adopted.
-ER: Development of advanced modelling to evaluate effects of sustainable forest management on ecosystem services, including slope stabilisation, hydrogeological risk reduction, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity protection
-LA: Launch of labs on agricultural land-use planning, hedgerows, and climate-resilient business parks, supported by strong stakeholder alliances and governance structures
-KZZ: Co-innovation labs addressing hazards such as urban heat, floods, landslides, and green infrastructure connectivity, focusing on blue-green infrastructure restoration in Zagreb, and slope stabilisation and biodiversity in Krapina-Zagorje
-Skåne: A comprehensive NbS strategy with the Malmö Urban Landscape Lab in an old industrial harbour, plus labs on water governance and agricultural adaptation. Insights will feed into Skåne’s Regional Master Plan, showing how NbS can be mainstreamed in spatial planning
-Funen: First lab focused on an action plan for urban water management in Odense Municipality and sub-projects for Vollsmose. Sustainable urban drainage systems with NbS are the focus of next labs
Fellow regions – Plovdiv (BG), Centru (RO), and Podravje (SI) – mobilised stakeholder networks across the quadruple helix, with twinning activities linking them to model regions.
Across regions, citizens were engaged through deliberative processes, workshops, hackathons, and climathons.
Scientific partners supported regions with tailored tools such as the ARCADIA Scorecard for transformational readiness, a Guide of guidances to choose NbS and Blue-Green Infrastructure, and a framework for integrating justice and equity into NbS design and implementation; a Climate Risk Assessment toolkit is also at an advanced stage.
At the consortium level, integration and knowledge exchange were pursued, communication and dissemination frameworks established, and robust governance, quality control, and ethical and data management plans adopted.
ARCADIA is already generating results that go beyond existing practices in climate adaptation:
-Integrated modelling and planning: in each model region, combining climate risk assessment with ecological and socio-economic data and integrating these with community perceptions, values and preferences, to design multifunctional landscapes and optimise NbS for climate adaptation
-New decision-support tools, including an innovative, interactive Guide-to-the-Guidance for NbS selection and design, ensuring that knowledge produced from previous empirical and scientific work is valued and used, and a harmonised climate risk assessment toolkit is at an advance state of implementation
-A knowledge and practical framework for integrating equity, participation, and recognition of diverse interests into NbS planning, positioning justice as a central dimension of the climate adaptation processes
Cross-regional learning mechanisms, such as the ARCADIA self-assessment Scorecard that guides regional communities in understanding the meaning of transformational change by reflecting on their readiness to face it; and twinning activities, which create scalable pathways for mutual learning, ensuring that both model and fellow regions can benefit from shared experimentation
-Integrated modelling and planning: in each model region, combining climate risk assessment with ecological and socio-economic data and integrating these with community perceptions, values and preferences, to design multifunctional landscapes and optimise NbS for climate adaptation
-New decision-support tools, including an innovative, interactive Guide-to-the-Guidance for NbS selection and design, ensuring that knowledge produced from previous empirical and scientific work is valued and used, and a harmonised climate risk assessment toolkit is at an advance state of implementation
-A knowledge and practical framework for integrating equity, participation, and recognition of diverse interests into NbS planning, positioning justice as a central dimension of the climate adaptation processes
Cross-regional learning mechanisms, such as the ARCADIA self-assessment Scorecard that guides regional communities in understanding the meaning of transformational change by reflecting on their readiness to face it; and twinning activities, which create scalable pathways for mutual learning, ensuring that both model and fellow regions can benefit from shared experimentation