COproductioN with NaturE for City Transitioning, INnovation and Governance

Project Information

CONNECTING Nature

Grant agreement ID: 730222

DOI

10.3030/730222

Project closed

EC signature date 5 May 2017

Start date 1 June 2017

End date 31 May 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 11 768 009,61

EU contribution

€ 11 394 282,48

Coordinated by

THE PROVOST, FELLOWS, FOUNDATION SCHOLARS & THE OTHER MEMBERS OF BOARD, OF THE COLLEGE OF THE HOLY & UNDIVIDED TRINITY OF QUEEN ELIZABETH NEAR DUBLIN
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - CONNECTING Nature (COproductioN with NaturE for City Transitioning, INnovation and Governance)

Reporting period: 2020-06-01 to 2022-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The growth of cities and urban living has resulted in a significant altering of the planet’s ecosystems and their services creating many climate and environmental changes. Society has devised TECHNICAL solutions and many governments have been promoting BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE solutions, in order to try to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on our daily lives and to build resilient urban communities. In the Connecting Nature project, we view NATURE as a technology that can provide solutions to climate pressure in cities, and we see CO-PRODUCTION as a key approach to modify our unsustainable behaviour. Connecting Nature brings together 37 city, business and academic partners from 18 different countries to devise new ways to bring nature-based solutions (NBS) into mainstream planning, design, management, and governance of cities.

The principal outcome of the project is the Connecting Nature Framework - a process tool to help cities and other organisations navigate the path towards the large-scale implementation of NBS.The process runs through three distinct phases of NBS development: planning, delivery and stewardship. Throughout each phase there are seven separate elements that cities and other entities need to consider: 1. Technical solutions 2. Governance 3. Financing and business models 4. Nature-based enterprises 5. Co-production 6.Impact assessment 7. Reflexive monitoring.

The Connecting Nature framework has been successfully deployed in the ten partner cities of Connecting Nature. It has contributed to the embedding of NBS in the climate action and adaptation plans of these cities, led to national awards and leveraged new funding for NBS.

The UrbanByNature programme has contributed to the uptake of Connecting Nature outcomes at a global scale through hubs in Brazil, China, Korea, the Caucuses and in Europe (Spain, Flanders and Scotland). These hubs will be sustained beyond the project in collaboration with other H2020/Horizon Europe NBS projects and thanks to the support of the CitiesWithNature and ICLEI networks.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Main activities and results:
- Building and mainstreaming the capacity to assess the impact of NBS across multiple indicators in Connecting Nature cities and beyond partner cities via the CO-IMPACT decision-support tool, the Assessment Toolkit and the EC Expert Handbook for Practitioners on NBS Impact Evaluation.
- Adapting and embedding the Connecting Nature Framework elements in the planning and implementation processes of all cities. Delivering actionable knowledge through guidebooks and online resources.
- Pioneering the take-up of novel governance approaches such as Co-Production and Reflexive Monitoring in Connecting Nature cities and beyond.
- Raising awareness of the economic potential of NBS via EC task force collaboration with other H2020 projects, research on nature-based enterprises (NBE) and the establishment of the Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform.
- Demonstration of large-scale NBS exemplars.
- Establishing an effective NBS peer-to-peer knowledge transfer process between and among cities.
- Successful launch of global UrbanByNature Hubs globally.

Intensive efforts have been invested in the dissemination of project outcomes:
- Organisation of the Connecting Nature Summit Series with the cities of Glasgow, Poznan and Genk attracting global audiences of over 2000 participants.
- Coordination of a series of local community events in each city.
- Extensive online social media coverage - Connecting Nature Twitter feed has over 5000 followers.

Finally through effective knowledge management processes , Connecting Nature has supported 92 new project innovations (see Connecting Nature Resource Centre on Oppla) and led to the creation of 3 spin-off enterprises who will ensure the sustainability of project innovations beyond the end of the project.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Impact on Cities:
The Connecting Nature framework to guide cities in the planning, delivery and stewardship of NBS has led to national awards, leveraged new funding for NBS and introduced cities to many other international support networks. For example, the Urban Gardens network developed by A Coruña has received a national award for excellence in NBS. Nicosia secured €8m in funding for their NBS exemplar, with Ioannina securing €10m for scaling up of NBS in their city. Glasgow has leveraged their NBS knowledge to partner with the University of Glasgow in securing £10 million from UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for the GALLANT project furthering NBS knowledge. 5 Connecting Nature cities were selected to participate in the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. The Mayors of 3 Connecting Nature cities are signatories of the Green City Accord and 3 cities are signatories of CitiesWithNature.

Innovation Impact:
Sustaining and scaling project innovations beyond the project lifetime was a key driver from the outset. Key innovations include:
· UrbanByNature (2019): a capacity-building programme promoting exchange among cities, researchers, SMEs and NGOs to build bridges with NBS communities across Europe, Asia, Latin America, and other interested regions.
· Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform (2020): the world’s largest community of nature-based enterprises (NBE). Led by industry practitioners it aims to raise awareness and best practice among NBEs.
· EM|Path (2021) uses a range of people-centred co-production and engagement techniques to support sustainable community development and environmental protection
· Connecting Ecology (2022) specialised in biodiversity surveys, NBS impact evaluation and technical solutions innovation.
· Co-Impact (2022): an online open-source app which helps to create a Nature-Based Solutions project evaluation and monitoring plan.
Connecting Nature guidebooks have been translated by partners into multiple languages and key innovations have secured funding from other sources for further development. Partner knowledge and project innovations are being leveraged in multiple Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects (Invest4Nature, NBS Eduworld, Naturance, MAIA…) and also to the LIFE project ARTISAN and the Erasmus+ project UForest.

Contribution to Research, Policy and Practice:
- Research: 20 peer reviewed journal articles and 5 book/report chapters published with 23 papers underway. 7 PhDs and 4 postdoctoral researchers funded or part-funded .
- Policy: Internationally, UrbanByNature is being hosted by CitiesWithNature with its 215+ signatory cities (officially recognised city registry by SCBD).Brazilian Catalogue for NBS to be published in 2022. In Europe, lead authors on two pivotal EC Expert Publications contributing significantly to the global knowledge base on NBS impact and NBS in nature positive economy.
- Practice: Embedding of project outcomes into RTPI accreditation of planning courses across the UK and Ireland. Project outputs featured as best practice in the UK Green Building Council online directory. In Ireland, project outcomes to be delivered through Continuous Professional Development (CPD) training for landscape architects and public officers. In Poland and Spain, cities collaborating with industry and training bodies to deliver professional NBS training.

Poznań workshop, 2018

Consortium partners photo - kick-off meeting in Dublin

Genk exemplar

Poznań exemplar

Glasgow exemplar