UNaLab Project Consortium Webinar Series

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are gaining ground as cities across the world face increased urban sustainability challenges, including natural disasters, the disruption of ecosystem services, and associated health and well-being issues. Despite the numerous co-benefits of NBS, many cities find the adoption of NBS and linked processes challenging.

The UNaLab project aims to inspire cities and share knowledge and tools to support the different NBS implementation phases by presenting our resources and experiences in a series of five webinars across three days. The UNaLab processes and tools support the adaptive management of NBS. The webinar series sessions are organised around the adaptive management cycle (or PDCA-cycle) to highlight the applicability of available tools to the various phases of NBS implementation.

PROGRAMME

The UNaLab project will kick off the webinar series by guiding you through the planning phase where we address questions related to the set-up of Urban Living Labs (webinar 1) as well as different governance barriers and actions, and innovative financing options (webinar 2).

Then, heading towards the NBS implementation phase, we will discuss different co-creation tools and citizen involvement methods (webinar 3). In this phase, we will also learn how to use available data to create different scenarios to support and empower local decision-making (webinar 4). Finally, we will address NBS performance and impact monitoring and tools to evaluate implemented NBS (webinar 5).

AGENDA

24 November

9:00-12:00: Setting up and initiating an Urban Living Lab

In this session, you will be guided through the different phases of an Urban Living Lab development process. Participants joining this session will experience a mixture of interactive workshops and educational presentations.The session will conclude with a panel discussion between municipal representatives that have implemented the Urban Living Lab methodology in their city. You will be able to interact with the presenters throughout the session. Registered participants will receive a virtual goodie bag before the event.

13:00-15:30: Governance and financing considerations

This session focuses on different aspects of how cities can support and drive NBS development. The main focus will be on governance-related challenges and actions, financing and procurement strategies, as well as on the development of NBS roadmaps in a co-creative and scientifically informed way. General introductions and summaries to these topics will be complemented by experiences and best practices from selected UNaLab cities.

25 November

9:00-12:00: Co-creation tools and methods

In this session, you will be able to take part of a co-creative tool - UNaLab's Open Nature Innovation Arena (ONIA). We will use a scenario workshop method to guide you through the tool. This webinar will be highly interactive and the participants will be divided into three breakout sessions representing Eindhoven, Genova and Tampere. In these breakout sessions, you will explore local challenges and possible nature-based solutions using ONIA. As part of the experiences on co-creation, you will also be introduced to our co-creation toolkit, which can help you find suitable tools for your co-creation sessions.

13:00-15:30: Scenario review & Stakeholder/citizen involvement

Prior to large-scale implementation of NBS, proposed solutions can be refined using the UNaLab NBS Scenario Visualisation Tool (NBS-SVT) to model potential solutions and outcomes. Participants will be introduced to the NBS-SVT and use this multi-model scenario visualisation tool to develop an NBS strategy based upon identified issues and proposed solutions (from webinar 3). The City of Eindhoven will provide a case study for scenario exploration to support decision-making.

26 November

9:00-11:30: Monitoring and impact assessment

The preceding sessions focused on identifying local challenges, and co-creating and co-implementing NBS with stakeholders. After that, how do the stakeholders know if the implemented NBS are effective for their intended purpose and generate evidence for attracting future NBS financing, uptake and replication? This session focuses on: 

• Defining clear objectives and targets for NBS, including both primary objectives and co-benefits;
• Translating objectives into specific, measurable indicators of NBS performance or impact;
• Demonstrating the use of the City Performance Monitor (CPM) tool developed in UNaLab for continuous monitoring of NBS performance and impact;
• Discussing the barriers and opportunities of using the data collection tools.

The participants will have hands-on experience of using the CPM and engage in a dialogue on measuring the NBS performance.

Please note that all times are indicated in Central European Time. 

The registration to this event has closed. The links to connect to the different webinar sessions will be sent to all registered participants in due time before the webinars.