Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NBSINFRA (CITYNATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS INTEGRATION TO LOCAL URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION FOR A CLIMATE RESILIENT SOCIETY)
Période du rapport: 2023-09-01 au 2025-08-31
NBSINFRA is a European Horizon Project, that focuses on using Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for the protection of critical urban infrastructure against natural and man-made hazards. NBSINFRA's mission extends to generate robust knowledge for the creation of resilient urban environments capable of withstanding challenges presented by the different hazards, through the collaborative co-design and co-creation of the NBS. The project is led by Universidade do Minho in Portugal, bringing together experts from several fields of study, including climate science, disaster risk management, infrastructure resilience, nature-based solutions, social engagement and adaptation measures (18 partners from 10 different countries).
NBSINFRA aims to: i) Demonstrate the technical viability and effectiveness of NBS as powerful defenders for safeguarding critical infrastructures and enhancing urban resilience; ii) create an innovative methodology to evaluate how specific natural ecosystems respond to various hazards; iii) Foster community engagement, empower decision-making, and drive commitment to results; iv) Develop a toolkit for community empowerment; v) Share best practices to expand and scale-up NBS across the EU; and vi) Highlight that NBS are not just socially acceptable and budget-friendly at the local scale, but can also potentially increase community empowerment. To realize those objectives, NBSINFRA established five representative European regions, denominated in the project by "City Labs." These labs serve as experimenting grounds to assess the cost-effectiveness of NBS in protecting local infrastructure, developed by the involvement and participation of end-users, managers, local authorities, and civil society.
NBSINFRA is committed to producing impactful scientific, and material outcomes, ensuring the production of robust knowledge for critical infrastructures and the ecosystem's resilience against extreme events, with an active engagement of all actors (governments at all levels, educational institutions, and populations, warranting social and gender representativeness. This includes improved risk assessment to fortify the resilience and strategic autonomy of European infrastructure with the citizens, experts and decision-makers collaboration and knowledge. The project creates a methodology that includes the co-creation of a toolkit using the lessons learned and observing the generated tools in the first part of the project. This toolkit will involve active involvement with end users and local populations to ensure social engagement in adopting measures and foster people empowerment. Combining insights from the experts involved across several disciplines, including social sciences in the project together with the information at a local level, the project will provide a plan of intervention supported by policy recommendations and educational material for stakeholders, enhancing the promotion of the cooperation between global and EU policymakers, national and regional stakeholders, and populations emphasising structured forms of information exchange for mutual learning for the designing, planning and implementation of NBS, minimizes (optimizes) costs and resources to be used in intervention or response to extreme events.
NBSINFRA aims to: i) Demonstrate the technical viability and effectiveness of NBS as powerful defenders for safeguarding critical infrastructures and enhancing urban resilience; ii) create an innovative methodology to evaluate how specific natural ecosystems respond to various hazards; iii) Foster community engagement, empower decision-making, and drive commitment to results; iv) Develop a toolkit for community empowerment; v) Share best practices to expand and scale-up NBS across the EU; and vi) Highlight that NBS are not just socially acceptable and budget-friendly at the local scale, but can also potentially increase community empowerment. To realize those objectives, NBSINFRA established five representative European regions, denominated in the project by "City Labs." These labs serve as experimenting grounds to assess the cost-effectiveness of NBS in protecting local infrastructure, developed by the involvement and participation of end-users, managers, local authorities, and civil society.
NBSINFRA is committed to producing impactful scientific, and material outcomes, ensuring the production of robust knowledge for critical infrastructures and the ecosystem's resilience against extreme events, with an active engagement of all actors (governments at all levels, educational institutions, and populations, warranting social and gender representativeness. This includes improved risk assessment to fortify the resilience and strategic autonomy of European infrastructure with the citizens, experts and decision-makers collaboration and knowledge. The project creates a methodology that includes the co-creation of a toolkit using the lessons learned and observing the generated tools in the first part of the project. This toolkit will involve active involvement with end users and local populations to ensure social engagement in adopting measures and foster people empowerment. Combining insights from the experts involved across several disciplines, including social sciences in the project together with the information at a local level, the project will provide a plan of intervention supported by policy recommendations and educational material for stakeholders, enhancing the promotion of the cooperation between global and EU policymakers, national and regional stakeholders, and populations emphasising structured forms of information exchange for mutual learning for the designing, planning and implementation of NBS, minimizes (optimizes) costs and resources to be used in intervention or response to extreme events.
During the first 24 months, NBSINFRA achieved substantial technical and scientific progress. The consortium developed an integrated methodological framework linking ecosystem assessment, resilience and sustainability quantification, and digital modelling. Five European City Labs (Aveiro, Cologne, Fingal, Prague, and Ruse) were fully characterized through hazard mapping, stakeholder engagement, and participatory co-design. The Resilience and Sustainability Quantification Framework (RSQF) and the Digital Twin Framework were completed, providing the basis for simulation and quantification of NBS effectiveness. Innovative demonstrators—such as hybrid green roofs with circular materials, self-healing concrete for coastal resilience, and calcareous deposit systems for scour mitigation—were designed, modelled, and implemented. Participatory methodologies, including a citizen engagement toolkit and an interactive mapping platform (CartoSpot), were tested to foster community empowerment. Overall, the project has met or exceeded its scientific objectives, with all major milestones achieved and deliverables submitted, producing validated methods, models, and pilot applications supporting NBS deployment for resilient urban infrastructure.
NBSINFRA has achieved major technical and scientific progress beyond the current state of the art in Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), digital modelling, and infrastructure resilience. The project demonstrates how NBS can be systematically quantified, simulated, and implemented as effective and scalable alternatives to grey infrastructure, through:
1) The Resilience and Sustainability Quantification Framework (RSQF) combines indicator- and model-based approaches to assess resilience and sustainability of infrastructures under multiple hazards. It introduces dynamic modelling techniques—such as agent-based and network models—to capture cascading effects and systemic interdependencies, linking resilience metrics directly to ecosystem services. The Digital Twin Framework for NBS integrates geospatial data, sensor networks, Copernicus imagery, and real-time monitoring to simulate NBS performance under different scenarios. Pilots in Prague and Ruse show its capacity to visualize risk reduction, support adaptive planning, and enable predictive management of NBS.
2) Material and technological innovation includes three NBS demonstrators: i) Hybrid Green Roof System using biochar and recycled substrates with greywater reuse; ii) Self-Healing Concrete for coastal infrastructure, reducing lifecycle impacts; iii) Calcareous Deposit Scour Protection System, applying biomineralization and AI-based modelling. These solutions promote circularity, resource efficiency, and durability in sustainable construction.
3) The participatory toolkit and CartoSpot platform enable citizens and stakeholders to co-design, monitor, and evaluate NBS, promoting co-production of resilience knowledge and inclusive governance.
NBSINFRA’s outputs provide evidence-based decision support, enhance investment confidence, and open market opportunities in circular materials and digital services. Together, these achievements position NBSINFRA as a European reference for quantifying, simulating, and mainstreaming NBS for resilient, sustainable, and inclusive urban infrastructure.
1) The Resilience and Sustainability Quantification Framework (RSQF) combines indicator- and model-based approaches to assess resilience and sustainability of infrastructures under multiple hazards. It introduces dynamic modelling techniques—such as agent-based and network models—to capture cascading effects and systemic interdependencies, linking resilience metrics directly to ecosystem services. The Digital Twin Framework for NBS integrates geospatial data, sensor networks, Copernicus imagery, and real-time monitoring to simulate NBS performance under different scenarios. Pilots in Prague and Ruse show its capacity to visualize risk reduction, support adaptive planning, and enable predictive management of NBS.
2) Material and technological innovation includes three NBS demonstrators: i) Hybrid Green Roof System using biochar and recycled substrates with greywater reuse; ii) Self-Healing Concrete for coastal infrastructure, reducing lifecycle impacts; iii) Calcareous Deposit Scour Protection System, applying biomineralization and AI-based modelling. These solutions promote circularity, resource efficiency, and durability in sustainable construction.
3) The participatory toolkit and CartoSpot platform enable citizens and stakeholders to co-design, monitor, and evaluate NBS, promoting co-production of resilience knowledge and inclusive governance.
NBSINFRA’s outputs provide evidence-based decision support, enhance investment confidence, and open market opportunities in circular materials and digital services. Together, these achievements position NBSINFRA as a European reference for quantifying, simulating, and mainstreaming NBS for resilient, sustainable, and inclusive urban infrastructure.