Integrated NBS-based Urban Planning Methodology for Enhancing the Health and Well-being of Citizens: the euPOLIS Approach

Project Information

EuPOLIS

Grant agreement ID: 869448

DOI

10.3030/869448

Project closed

EC signature date 23 April 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

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

Total cost

€ 11 358 637,39

EU contribution

€ 9 995 189,76

Coordinated by

ETHNICON METSOVION POLYTECHNION
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - EuPOLIS (Integrated NBS-based Urban Planning Methodology for Enhancing the Health and Well-being of Citizens: the euPOLIS Approach)

Reporting period: 2023-09-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The euPOLIS project emphasizes on boosting nature-based solutions (NBS), in urban planning, that consider cultural and societal aspects. This methodology has as a major advantage the synergy of people-centered approach, with significant environmental and economic benefits of Blue Green Solutions (BGS). The methodologies and results will be evaluated over four cities in Europe: Belgrade (Serbia), Lodz (Poland), Piraeus (Greece) and Gladsaxe (Denmark). Figure 1 demonstrates project’s intervention areas.
There are multiple outcomes that positively affect society. These are addressed through eight strategic objectives. At first, a coherent methodology will be delivered, capable to enhance: a) the PH and WB of citizens, b) the urban metabolism, c) the social cohesion, and d) the resilience of cities to Climate Change and natural disasters. Secondly, euPOLIS o builds an intervention-aimed livability model rooted in community needs and engaging community diverse potentials. Figure 2 explains the proposed planning methodology.
Support and enhance the participatory processes, while re-designing and transforming public spaces, is the 3rd strategic objective in euPOLIS. This scenario promotes ideas like the active socio-cultural hubs and “live community nodes”. The adopted mixed-method approach supports the design and implementation of customized spatial solutions for each case study. Monitoring and assessing the NBS impact, through quantifiable and measurable results, is the 4th objective. Figure 3 demonstrates the data acquisition process, towards that goal.
Last, but not least, euPOLIS will promote the know-how to multiple follower cities, to replicate and demonstrate the corresponding advantages of the introduced innovations. The euPOLIS consortium has established long-term data platforms securing open, consistent data points about the impacts of the deployed approaches, mainly regarding PH and WB, and ensure interoperability with other relevant data infrastructures for effective public consultation, exchange and sharing of practices and experiences.

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

Research focused on delivering a multidimensional set of indicators, suitable for assessing the impacts NBS can have on PH&WB. Indicators are divided in 5 impact categories, directly or indirectly related to PH&WB: a) social (direct and indirect), b) economic (indirect), c) environmental (direct and indirect), and d) urban development (indirect). All indicators were selected to measure NBSs’ effectiveness, in line with project’s objectives.
Project’s consortium investigated the required technologies to support development of NBS in the cities. The work focused on identifying and documenting existing technology gaps in using NBS in the demonstration cities, evaluating existing technologies and required customization to serve the project’s goals. The work was distributed among five technical pillars, namely: Wearables & applications, Permanent sensors & gateway, communication sockets and data models, visualization, and urban water simulation tools.
An innovative interactive analysis methodology, over a complex set of city/project requirements and resources was applied for each demo site. The main tool for this cause is named Goal Driven Planning Matrix (GDPM). GDPM allows for the planning and detailed design of project interventions tailored to improve PH&WB at selected demonstration locations. The construction of a provisional GDPM entails to an analysis of urban synergies at demo sites and their conversion into potential interventions recommendations. Deployment of the NBS and monitoring solutions in the cities took under consideration all the information provided by the remaining work packages.
euPOLIS achieved full implementation of NBS in the three Front-Runner cities—Gladsaxe, Łódź, and Piraeu. All pilot interventions were finalized, and milestones related to building and monitoring were successfully achieved. Monitoring systems, including environmental sensors, wearables, biodiversity surveys, and social data tools, were activated and integrated into the DMS, ensuring comprehensive evaluation of interventions and marking a major milestone for euPOLIS.
The project evaluated the NBS performance, conducting training activities, and creating the Community Guide for replication. The evaluation combined environmental, social, and health data with digital biomarkers from wearables, providing a multi-dimensional assessment of NBS effectiveness using advanced modeling tools. Additionally, five capacity-building events and mentoring sessions were held across FR and FL cities, empowering stakeholders, fostering innovation, and supporting the development of Social-Cultural Urban Hubs for long-term sustainability and citizen engagement.
A set of media sources have been used and clustering activities with other projects took place. Exploitation activities dealt mainly in identifying a sound business model, replicable to other markets and develop new resources activation techniques.

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)

In euPOLIS a seamless transition is performed though added value of Innovative BGS methodology, demonstrated in the enhanced DS/CS (Demo Site in FR cities and Case Studies in FL cities). This project proposes a newly established, custom-made, three-layer theoretical approach to assess impacts of NBSs.
The first layer focuses on a set of evaluation indicators carefully selected to cover the whole spectrum of PH&WB. The second layer embrace the euPOLIS livability model that integrates developed indicators into seven factors to match the New European Bauhaus priorities. The third layer is built on the use of a social sustainability perspective and Business Activation Matrix to emphasize the importance of the long-term social and economic sustainability of NBS interventions. An easy-to-setup, low-cost gateway/data logger, which can accept more than one protocol simultaneously has been developed. Wearable functionalities were also considered.
A novel NBS Assessment Tool was developed to rank potential interventions according to their capacity to address site-specific concerns. The tool applies a multi-criteria evaluation approach that considers both technical and socio-environmental dimensions, including PH&WB benefits. An integrated monitoring system was established to capture environmental, physiological, and emotional data simultaneously. It combines environmental sensors measuring air quality, temperature, and noise with two types of smart wearables that record physiological and emotional responses, and participatory surveys that reflect subjective perceptions. Measurable indicators now include resting heart rate, sleep duration, levels of stress, anxiety, and depression, as well as improvements in air temperature, biodiversity, and access to greenery.
The project developed a holistic framework that combines subjective, objective, physiological, and psychological dimensions. Subjective assessments gather perceptions of mood, stress, and satisfaction; objective assessments measure biodiversity, habitat diversity, and environmental parameters; physiological data are recorded through the euPOLIS by BioAssist platform, which tracks heart rate, oxygenation, activity, and sleep; and psychological responses are monitored through the MyFeel sensor, which analyses bio-signals to identify emotional states such as stress or relaxation.
Finally, the project demonstrates that community engagement remains a key determinant of NBS success.

euPOLIS overall concept. 1. NBS-based MF pocket parks accessed by NBS locally conditioned pathways a

Piraeus interventions

euPOLIS planning methodology

Belgrade Linear Park

Piraeus pocket park

Lodz interventions

KER-5 The euPOLIS Game

Data collection scheme

KER-14 Surface Water Management Toolkit

Lodz Sensory garden

Gladsaxe Biowater climapond

Lodz city Dry river

Gladsaxe interventions

KER-3 Visualization euPOLIS Tool