Urban heat islands, flash flooding and biodiversity loss: climate change is affecting cities, with direct consequences for quality of life, public health and the costs of managing public spaces. Nature-Based Solutions are among the most effective responses available today: urban trees, green roofs and façades, permeable surfaces and stormwater management systems are not merely decorative features, but essential urban infrastructure capable of lowering temperatures, reducing energy consumption and creating more liveable spaces.
The challenge, however, is not only technical: it also concerns the processes behind these interventions. Who decides where action is needed? How can long-term maintenance be funded? And how can citizens be involved in decisions that directly affect their communities?
CONE is a project co-funded by the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE programme and led by UniSMART. Over three years, the project has worked in five Central European cities, including Padova, through urban living labs: innovation spaces where public authorities, businesses, researchers and citizens have co-designed interventions in real-life pilot areas, testing participatory processes and digital tools to support decision-making.
The final event will bring this wealth of experience and knowledge to those who can put it into practice.
Two roundtables will provide an opportunity for dialogue among urban planners, public authorities and businesses.
The first will focus on the project’s results: what has worked, which solutions can be transferred to other contexts, and what conditions are needed to turn a pilot intervention into established practice.
The second, framed by the European Union’s Nature Restoration Regulation, will broaden the discussion to Italian experiences in innovation and urban regeneration, with particular attention to nature-based solutions. Concrete examples and future initiatives will inform the discussion on achievements, barriers and opportunities for implementation in other territories. The afternoon will be devoted to a participatory workshop, during which participants will work together on a real-world urban scenario to develop shared proposals.