About Us
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a state-owned and controlled non-profit limited liability company. As an impartial non-profit Research and Technology Organisation (RTO), VTT carries out research and innovation activities for the needs of industry and knowledge-based society. VTT has vast experience working as a partner in and as a coordinator of a diverse range of EU projects. In 2015 alone, VTT was involved in 355 EU funded research projects. VTT’s activities in the Smart Cities domain are characterised by genuine trans-disciplinary and cross-sectoral approaches with strong expertise in areas including sustainable urban development, clean technologies, bio-economy, ICT, transport and energy.
VTT is an active member of EERA, European Energy Research Alliance. In addition, VTT has a representative within EIP-SCC in the high-level group and in the Sherpa group. VTT is currently developing a roadmap for Smart Cities within CIB and contributing to the UN New Urban Agenda. Nationally, VTT has been a representative on the climate change panel, which advises the Finnish Parliament on sustainable cities, energy, and transport systems. In addition, VTT supports Finnish legislation in urban planning, energy certificates, bio-fuels, and the definition of building codes, among other areas.
UNaLab Team Members
Meet the UNaLab Team Members from VTT
Laura Wendling
UNaLab Project Coordinator
Arto Laikari
Work Package 5 - Climate & Water Resilient Urban Living LabsLatest Updates
Related Information
Managing Urban Water in a Changing Climate
UNaLab project partner Laura Wendling wrote an article for the Finnish Civil Engineering association’s magazine Rakennustekniikka, under the topic Managing Urban Water in a Changing Climate. The article focuses on the problem of urban stormwater runoff, that is expected to increase in the future due to increasingly intense and frequent heavy precipitation events as a result of climate change.
Call for Papers on Nature-based Solutions for Urban Global Climate Change Adaptation
The UNaLab team members Peter Roebeling, Teresa Fidelis, Anna Ståhlbröst and Laura Wendling are guest editing a special issue of the Open Access journal Resources on the topic “Nature-based Solutions for Urban Global Climate Change Adaptation”. They now invite papers that address one or more of the pre-selected issues. The deadline for submissions is 30 September 2019.
NBS and Water
Presented by Laura Wendling, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, at the Transforming Cities, Enhancing Well-being: Innovating with Nature-based Solutions event on 16 May 2018.
Nature-based Solutions in Practice
Presented by Laura Wendling, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, to the Finnish Association of Civil Engineers (RIL) in October 2018.
NBS and Urban Ecosystem Services
Presented by Laura Wendling, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, at the BY&FOR CITIZENS Conference in September 2018.
Key Enablers of and Barriers to the Uptake and Implementation of Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Settings: A Review
Authored by Shahryar Ershad Sarabi, Qi Han, A. Georges L. Romme, Bauke de Vries & Laura Wendling. Published in Resources in June 2019.
Nature-based Solutions - Resolving Climate Induced Urban Challenges
Authored by Zarrin Fatima, Laura Wendling, Ville Rinta-Hiiro, Johannes Jermakka & Maarit Särkilahti. Published in Maankäyttö in May 2019.
Managing Urban Water in a Changing Climate
Authored by Laura Wendling. Published in Rakennustekniikka in 2019.
Benchmarking Nature-Based Solution and Smart City Assessment Schemes Against the Sustainable Development Goal Indicator Framework
Authored by Laura Wendling, Aapo Huovila, Malin zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, Mari Hukkalainen & Miimu Airaksinen. Published in Frontiers in Environmental Science in July 2018.
Co-Creating Nature-Based Solutions and Green Spaces in a Nordic Municipality
Authored by Anine Drageset. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 2018.
Floodplain Restoration to Enhance Urban Climate Change Resilience
Authored by Maria Dubovik. Aalto University School of Engineering, Espoo, Finland, 2019.
NBS performance monitoring in the front-runner cities
Year 2019 marked the advancement and near finalisation of NBS planning and construction in the UNaLab front-runner cities. During the latter half of 2019, the cities have been working with the project’s technical partners to identify a suite of relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) that will provide essential information about the performance and impact of the NBS being implemented.
Co-monitor NBS performance and impact with the City Performance Monitor
The City Performance Monitor is the UNaLab ICT tool that supports NBS performance and impact assessment, and enables the involvement of all the stakeholders in co-monitoring and data-driven decision-making.
How do people use and perceive green spaces and how has COVID-19 changed the situation?
The results of the UNaLab survey on urban green spaces showed that the majority of urban residents surveyed prefer to use green and blue spaces and may change their walking or cycling route to spend time in green and blue spaces when they are not in a rush.
Integrating Engineered and Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Stormwater Management
Authored by Laura Wendling & Erika Holt. Published in Women in Water Quality in June 2019.
Barriers to the Adoption of Urban Living Labs for NBS Implementation: A Systemic Perspective
Authored by Shahryar Sarabi, Qi Han, A. Georges L. Romme, Bauke de Vries, Rianne Valkenburg, Elke den Ouden, Spela Zalokar & Laura Wendling. Published in Sustainability in November 2021.
Tampere’s green wall: the northernmost of its kind
The City of Tampere has recently finished the first construction phase of the novel green wall that is located on an old wastewater treatment plant in the Viinikanlahti district. The green wall is the first of its kind to be constructed this far up north, and the city will study its performance in the harsh Finnish climate to enable the replication of this nature-based solution on other public and private buildings in the city.