Periodic Reporting for period 2 - INTERLACE (INTERnational cooperation to restore and connect urban environments in Latin AmeriCa and Europe)
Reporting period: 2022-03-01 to 2023-08-31
Immense strain is being placed on the social-ecological systems of cities and their peripheries due to urban sprawl and the conversion of open spaces, coupled with environmental pressures such as climate change and pollution. These processes can in turn exacerbate the degradation and destruction of natural habitats, fragment ecosystems, and jeopardize ecosystem service provisioning as well as have consequences for human health and well-being, biodiversity, social cohesion and equity, and city resilience.
Such challenges are particularly relevant for small and medium-sized cities (SMCs), whose administrations often lack resources and tools to address the problem of ecosystem degradation while considering the needs of all social groups and ensuring that negative effect do not disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations. Given the significant proportion of urban populations living in SMCs of less than 300,000 people in the EU and CELAC regions, they are seen as playing a decisive role in ensuring widespread action to achieve the global sustainable development goals and thus receive particular focus in INTERLACE.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are particularly suitable for tackling the recovery of degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems, utilising nature to address societal challenges, build resilience and provide environmental, social and economic benefits. Cities are increasingly recognizing the multi-functional potential of NBS and – as identified by the six INTERLACE EU and CELAC city partners - have the ambition to: implement urban ecological restoration and rehabilitation through NBS; protect and increase access to existing green areas; create recreational areas; promote NBS as a conceptual basis for sustainable urban development; and develop environmental education.
Building on its overarching aim and these city-identified ambitions, INTERLACE has the following objectives:
1. Strengthen cooperation between European and CELAC communities of practice on (peri)urban ecological restoration and rehabilitation
2. Foster participatory engagement to co-produce and promote ownership of guidelines, decision support systems and tools for the design, construction and monitoring of cost-effective restorative NBS
3. Build on existing knowledge, experiences and good practices from EU and CELAC cities on urban ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation
4. Increase the capacity of local governments to implement integrated and ecologically coherent urban planning and governance approaches responding to their needs and challenges
5. Mobilise existing European and CELAC city and regional networks to inspire and support sustained multi-directional learning and exchange on restorative NBS
6. Raise awareness and understanding of the benefits of healthy (peri)urban ecosystems for social, cultural and economic wellbeing
Such challenges are particularly relevant for small and medium-sized cities (SMCs), whose administrations often lack resources and tools to address the problem of ecosystem degradation while considering the needs of all social groups and ensuring that negative effect do not disproportionately affect already vulnerable populations. Given the significant proportion of urban populations living in SMCs of less than 300,000 people in the EU and CELAC regions, they are seen as playing a decisive role in ensuring widespread action to achieve the global sustainable development goals and thus receive particular focus in INTERLACE.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are particularly suitable for tackling the recovery of degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems, utilising nature to address societal challenges, build resilience and provide environmental, social and economic benefits. Cities are increasingly recognizing the multi-functional potential of NBS and – as identified by the six INTERLACE EU and CELAC city partners - have the ambition to: implement urban ecological restoration and rehabilitation through NBS; protect and increase access to existing green areas; create recreational areas; promote NBS as a conceptual basis for sustainable urban development; and develop environmental education.
Building on its overarching aim and these city-identified ambitions, INTERLACE has the following objectives:
1. Strengthen cooperation between European and CELAC communities of practice on (peri)urban ecological restoration and rehabilitation
2. Foster participatory engagement to co-produce and promote ownership of guidelines, decision support systems and tools for the design, construction and monitoring of cost-effective restorative NBS
3. Build on existing knowledge, experiences and good practices from EU and CELAC cities on urban ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation
4. Increase the capacity of local governments to implement integrated and ecologically coherent urban planning and governance approaches responding to their needs and challenges
5. Mobilise existing European and CELAC city and regional networks to inspire and support sustained multi-directional learning and exchange on restorative NBS
6. Raise awareness and understanding of the benefits of healthy (peri)urban ecosystems for social, cultural and economic wellbeing
In the first period the INTERLACE team set up the foundation for developing relevant, legitimised and easily applicable key products by establishing the agile workflow process, Impact Task Force, co-production platform and help desk, and developed tutorials, guidance and started with agile webinars to support the project team in the development of key deliverables and products. By adopting an agile workflow, building on experiences in software development, INTERLACE made significant advances around co-creation methods, allowing for continuous learning experiences over the course of the project. A Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication Strategy targeted to different audiences was developed as a living document, accompanied by a communication toolkit and material which can be flexible used by the partners. In addition to the project website, the Innovation Hub (as main ‘entry point’ into the project for external stakeholders and other interested parties) was established. An internal comprehensive monitoring system was set up to keep track of the project’s contribution towards reaching its impacts.
During the second reporting period, the INTERLACE team continued to build on its established working structures to develop further relevant, legitimised and easily applicable products. Following feedback from the M18 review, the Agile Guidance was updated to include lessons learned to date from implementing the agile workflow in INTERLACE. A focus in the second period was, amongst other processes, on the multifaceted engagement programme being launched and implemented across our partner cities as well as NBS governance. Specifically, the digital gaming programme has been very widely and positively received, with more than 250 students across four cities involved in designing and building imaginative NBS featuring 250 good practice policy instruments. The systematic learning process for developing the INTERLACE assessment framework - initiated in April 2022 – continues to flourish. Still recovering from the pandemic and facing different time zones, languages and cultures across project partners and stakeholders, the working mode established in the first period has continued to be effective for fostering inclusive communication and engagement. This includes the Cities Talk Nature Webinars including interested stakeholders worldwide. INTERLACE also continues to be strongly involved in networking and exchange activities. Consortium members are active in many of the NetworkNature task forces and its activities, and exchange regularly with the INTERLACE sister projects, resulting in e.g. a joint online event in October 2022 entitled ‘Sustaining Cities, Naturally’ with over 500 participants.
During the second reporting period, the INTERLACE team continued to build on its established working structures to develop further relevant, legitimised and easily applicable products. Following feedback from the M18 review, the Agile Guidance was updated to include lessons learned to date from implementing the agile workflow in INTERLACE. A focus in the second period was, amongst other processes, on the multifaceted engagement programme being launched and implemented across our partner cities as well as NBS governance. Specifically, the digital gaming programme has been very widely and positively received, with more than 250 students across four cities involved in designing and building imaginative NBS featuring 250 good practice policy instruments. The systematic learning process for developing the INTERLACE assessment framework - initiated in April 2022 – continues to flourish. Still recovering from the pandemic and facing different time zones, languages and cultures across project partners and stakeholders, the working mode established in the first period has continued to be effective for fostering inclusive communication and engagement. This includes the Cities Talk Nature Webinars including interested stakeholders worldwide. INTERLACE also continues to be strongly involved in networking and exchange activities. Consortium members are active in many of the NetworkNature task forces and its activities, and exchange regularly with the INTERLACE sister projects, resulting in e.g. a joint online event in October 2022 entitled ‘Sustaining Cities, Naturally’ with over 500 participants.
The project works towards achieving the following impacts:
• Impact 1: Foster restored and functioning (peri)urban ecosystems in INTERLACE and wider cities for enhanced service delivery and coherent planning
• Impact 2: Creation and application of novel guidelines, planning approaches and tools for restorative NBS
• Impact 3: Strengthened business and investment case for restorative NBS and engagement with business and financial community
• Impact 4: Increased evidence, exploitation and awareness of the impacts of restored urban ecosystems
• Impact 5: Sustained city network learning, exchange and cross-fertilisation on restorative NBS
• Impact 6: Enhanced policy mainstreaming of restorative NBS and implementation of EU and global environmental policies
• Impact 7: Improved consideration of social equity, gender and cultural issues in restorative NBS planning for increased political participation and inclusion
To achieve these impacts, the project continues to develop relevant, legitimised and easily applicable key products tailored to targeted stakeholder groups, such as city partners, decision-makers and the scientific community. The development of a distance learning course has already begun, with the aim to disseminate the project findings and enhance capacity building regarding restorative NBS. The involvement of different regional and global city networks further ensures effective dissemination. Critically, the development of the “CELAC Nature-Based Solutions Repository” (equivalent to Oppla’s own EU NBS Repository) has been assured through a partnership between Humboldt Institute and Oppla and will be developed in the next reporting period. The CELAC Repository will uniquely facilitate knowledge sharing between the CELAC and European regions, continuing the legacy of the INTERLACE project and creating opportunities for further collaboration.
• Impact 1: Foster restored and functioning (peri)urban ecosystems in INTERLACE and wider cities for enhanced service delivery and coherent planning
• Impact 2: Creation and application of novel guidelines, planning approaches and tools for restorative NBS
• Impact 3: Strengthened business and investment case for restorative NBS and engagement with business and financial community
• Impact 4: Increased evidence, exploitation and awareness of the impacts of restored urban ecosystems
• Impact 5: Sustained city network learning, exchange and cross-fertilisation on restorative NBS
• Impact 6: Enhanced policy mainstreaming of restorative NBS and implementation of EU and global environmental policies
• Impact 7: Improved consideration of social equity, gender and cultural issues in restorative NBS planning for increased political participation and inclusion
To achieve these impacts, the project continues to develop relevant, legitimised and easily applicable key products tailored to targeted stakeholder groups, such as city partners, decision-makers and the scientific community. The development of a distance learning course has already begun, with the aim to disseminate the project findings and enhance capacity building regarding restorative NBS. The involvement of different regional and global city networks further ensures effective dissemination. Critically, the development of the “CELAC Nature-Based Solutions Repository” (equivalent to Oppla’s own EU NBS Repository) has been assured through a partnership between Humboldt Institute and Oppla and will be developed in the next reporting period. The CELAC Repository will uniquely facilitate knowledge sharing between the CELAC and European regions, continuing the legacy of the INTERLACE project and creating opportunities for further collaboration.