The Ljubljana University Medical Centre (UMC) is the largest hospital centre in Slovenia and among the largest in Central Europe. Every day, the area fills with employees, patients, and visitors. It is located in the heart of the city and lacks dedicated public transport solutions, while pedestrian and cyclist lanes are neglected.

The project improved the accessibility and use of green space in Ljubljana’s clinical centre. Patients and medical personnel co-designed a concept plan to renovate the green area chosen as the most critical by the participants. The decision was based on the specific needs of the users, empowering them to become actively involved in decision making and giving under-represented and vulnerable groups a voice. The design was partially implemented through quick-fix solutions.

The project prioritised the places and people that need it the most by providing more accessible green spaces designed to accommodate the needs of patients and disabled users, encouraging their well-being and faster recovery. Participants designed and implemented new spaces in the area and promoted their use and (mental) health benefits (reconnecting with nature). The site addressed the citizens’ real needs in urban spaces and improved the quality of the experience in their lives (re-gaining sense of community & belonging). By improving the environment around clinics, the project improved the well-being and health of both key groups of users: patients and workers.

The plan was presented to the Medical Centre’s management to influence them to implement it fully. The data gathered through these activities served as the basis for a series of guidelines that were included in the upcoming Climate adaptation strategy of the Municipality of Ljubljana.

OPEN NATURE worked with the Collserola Natural Park, located at the heart of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, to identify sites for ecological and aesthetic rehabilitation near dense urban areas and well-positioned pathways from the city to the park. Through the project, sustainably harvested local wood was worked into aesthetic structures and elements and positioned on peripheral public sites linking the park to the surrounding urbanization. The pieces were co-designed and made as part of the project.

The project enhanced the benefits of applying public green-space preservation and regeneration measures through the inclusive participation of children and young people, with the aim of building a win-win relationship between these spaces and the primary users. Immersive forest lessons familiarised students with the basic principles of the regional ecology and sustainable forest management. Then a participatory co-design process involved children and young people in learning-by-doing collaborations with experts in architecture and the circular bioeconomy from the IAAC’s Valldaura Labs, located within the park. Including students in the co-creation of natural public spaces supported their sense of belonging to the community.

OPEN NATURE successfully brought together various stakeholders. The participants in the education and co-design process were re-connected with nature and the physical spaces regenerated and preserved in a sustainable way. Being the main lung of the entire Barcelona metropolitan area, the park has a vital ecology that merits conservation for the health and wellbeing of all surrounding urban stakeholders.

The Greenovate project revitalized and beautified the centre of the town of Kozani, adding greening space through window boxes and large planters in the main thoroughfares of the centre and on the pedestrian places across the town’s market area. All materials used for the creation of the Green Corners came from upcycling material thus promoting sustainability and the circular economy.

The main feature of the Greenovate project was engagement with local businesses and young students not only in the planning and preparation phase but also by adapting the green space to ensure preservation, daily care, and a sense of belonging.

Education about the environmental, social, and economic benefits was offered to the students in innovative lessons about the principles of the circular economy and sustainability. Their active involvement created practical business cases for the project execution.

StationSofia (Stochna Gara) was once the reason for the industrialisation and residential development on the north side of the railroad in Sofia, although it is currently unused. This project planned to activate the unused heritage building and 80 hectares of wild landscape on the outskirts of Sofia city centre via sustainable urban transformation and citizen engagement. A number of collective activities transformed the infrastructure barrier into a bridge and three pilot projects have been identified to start immediately, guaranteeing a rooted, sustainable, long-term vision creation process.

The project enhanced the planning culture in Bulgaria by empowering citizens with the information and tools to get involved in decision-making processes. Through the project, several institutional stakeholders, such as the Municipality, Ministry of Transport, railway companies, international and local experts, academics and students, activists, and local actors gathered in search of new greenways for the old railways. Reusing the post-industrial heritage site offered many opportunities to find comprehensive and resilient solutions to urban problems, integrating the existing activities and current actors, and bridging the different communities around them.

The space development project was implemented in the neighbourhood building of Old Podil in Kyiv by locals in collaboration with the authorities, by holding public participation events.

The project area was characterised by abandoned historic buildings, a low level of landscaping and a lack of public spaces, playgrounds and sports grounds. The project planned to solve some of the district´s problems and be the first step to creating an attractive, functional public space. At the heart of the project was an educational and co-creative driver to conceive and implement a concept for public space development for the local community using participatory approaches to sustainable planning and climate change adaptation.

The project developed the concept of repurposing some parts of the courtyard together with local residents. The implementation focused on co-creating public spaces as a place of interaction and learning for the local community; tools for climate crisis adaptation, and forming a sustainable ecosystem of coexistence within the community.

Library of Things (LOT) is a non-profit sharing centre that encourages its users to rent items they would typically have to buy. The emphasis is on items usually used only a couple of times per year. The project helped users save money, time, and space and educated them about the environmental and social benefits of the sharing economy through positive personal experiences.

The project brought the concept of LOT closer to the tenants of Novo Brdo and encouraged them to build social bonds with activities centered around the community pavilion in the neighbourhood. Novo Brdo is the youngest public rental housing project in Ljubljana, with approximately 700 units. Through the project, a form was adapted with the content initiated by the residents. The selected structure provided enough ways to identify site-specific challenges through an initial series of workshops, each addressing different topics. Semi-structured workshops were the foundation of the cooperation with the residents.

The main target group was tenants of the Novo Brdo neighborhood, who benefit the most economically and socially from the new services and social content in their home area. Other target groups were young families, students, and ethical consumers from the broader Brdo/Vrhovci area – it is crucial to connect residents from Novo Brdo with the broader area to destigmatize new residents and to change the point of view of older residents.

The project was part of the strategy of Ljubljana Circular City 2045, adopted in 2022 by the City of Ljubljana. The strategy recognises LOT as a good practice, with concrete activitiessupporting the opening of new units.

The Modular Refugee Settlement Project (ProModSe) consisted on the preparation of a place to live for people forced to leave their homes due to the war in Ukraine. The prototype settlement for the refugee population in Lviv, Ukraine, took into account the needs of families and single people, creating communities and quality housing and environments. The aim was to develop a method for the rapid construction of a settlement for approximately 3,500 people, including social infrastructure, based on replicable elements at micro, mezzo, and macro scales. The development of the design included optimal housing – segments (micro); functional quarter (mezzo); and settlement layouts with universal principles, and integration into the city structure (macro).

An important element of the activities was to ensure an appropriate standard of living for each of the three scales. For this purpose, both the segments themselves and the quarterly system were developed with the appropriate size and quality parameters. Inhabitants were also provided with the appropriate social infrastructure. The area of seven hectares designated for this purpose is in Ukraine, on the outskirts of the city of Lviv, Ryasne-2 district, Velychkovsky st. The location is in line with the general city policy related to the creation of satellite housing estates located in the suburban area connected by the rail network.

The ElTra project enhanced active mobility among the elderly to improve their health while increasing social cohesion. The aged population in Europe is rising and healthcare investment on seniors is growing accordingly. The COVID-19 pandemic has meanwhile disrupted the social networks of many elderly people. Active mobility can positively impact physical and mental health while creating and reactivating social networks. The project’s starting point was to reconnect seniors with their community and its natural environment.

The project explored the links between elderly people’s comfort/perception and recorded physical and environmental parameters while testing walking routes. The project was implemented in the municipality of Rubí, in the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona. Occupying an area of 32,2km2, Rubí is home to 78,549 inhabitants, out of which 16% are aged over 65. Rubí is part of the Age-Friendly Cities Network with a +65 age target group. Rubí has also created an Elderly Strategic Plan, which includes some of the eight WHO dimensions to allow the elderly to evaluate cities and promote active ageing. These include: inclusion; mobility and transport; accessibility to public space; and citizen engagement.

Barcelona, one of the most densely populated cities in Europe, is pioneering a new model of urban regeneration: superilles (also known as superblocks). The approach consists of pacifying streets in entire neighborhoods, creating more liveable public space, and promoting sustainable behaviour change. The objective of the project “Teixint Superilles” – which translates from Catalan as “Weaving superblocks” – is to approach superilles from a bottom-up perspective, engaging citizens throughout the process.
Through a series of workshops, Aquí has been experimenting with diverse methodologies for civic participation while engaging a wide range of participants with topics of gender, functional diversity, cross-generational inclusivity, and sustainability. Teixint Superilles activities took place in three different environments to ensure a wide range of participants: a public park, an arts and sustainability festival and a secondary school. The target groups of these activities were neighbours of superilles and the end-users of these spaces: local businesses and municipal workers, visitors, and people in transit. To increase representation from younger citizens, aquí engaged students from a local school through a co-creation process to redesign their local square.

The core activity of the project was to design a green or blue solution to mitigate the impact of climate change through design and to build a natural space to help to cool public spaces in Lyon. Place Saint-Jean was chosen as the experimentation site in Lyon, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This means that nothing could be planted including on roofs and facades and no water features added. For this reason, we focused on a mobile garden that was built in the Lyon Pressin Horticultural School and then moved into the Place Saint-Jean. To be mobile meant that the garden must be the same size as a wooden pallet, which is a major constraint.

A strong and efficient mobilisation of the involved partners was managed according to the work plan, enabling indirect exchanges between citizens and high-school students to design and build the green solution in accordance with the expectations of citizens.

The main impact of the project for Lyon City is the fact, that the experimentations have been conducted in Lyon and the methodology deployed in this project could be replicated within the city of Lyon and in other cities too. Due to the seasonality of the project the monitoring campaign planned for spring, summer and the early autumn 2022 to assess the benefit of the green solution in terms of cooling. Two devices were implemented: one near the garden and one at the opposite side of the green solution, to witness the changes brought by the green solution. RESALLIENCE will then be able to quantify the difference of temperature and humidity between the two sites and the benefits in terms of cooling.

The project “Lugoj: For kids, by kids” improved the public space in the town of Lugoj, Romania through an innovative grassroots approach, by connecting pupils with the public administration.

The main objectives of “Lugoj – For kids, by kids” was to co-identify -together with students- the obstacles children face when cycling to school, in using the relevant urban infrastructures, and co-creating solutions to these challenges. The secondary aim of the pupil engagement phase was to stimulate their participation and involvement in the decision-making processes of their school by forming a long-term working group to deal with school projects.

All the project outcomes and solutions proposed and the interactive maps were delivered to the municipality of Lugoj in order to take action in the future and improve the infrastructure. The project outcomes, including the solutions and the challenges will be integrated into the Sustainable Urban Mobility Development Strategy of Lugoj.

The Istanbul Mobility Lab within Dudullu metro station specialises in the theme of future mobility to design and create solutions to the city’s existing transportation and mobility problems for citizens and entrepreneurs. The Dudullu metro station fitted well to the RAPID 3D model project because the 3D model of the station and the Mobility Lab have been live since 2021, just before the official opening of the metro station.

The City of Istanbul has done important work regarding citizen behavioural profiles to reflect the diverse communities across the city. Based on these citizen behaviour profiles, avatars were created to simulate moving through the digital space. The vision and the strategy of the model aligned to the local settings and linked real-life citizen profiles and their needs to the project in an inclusive, democratic and open perspective. There was an iterative process for identifying these characteristics which was valuable to help identify potential blockages or “pinch points” and give opportunities to use this for citizen engagement. Under-represented groups such as people with accessibility problems, people with different transportation preferences, women with children, people with disabilities, urban refugees, and others were represented in the 3D visual imagery and supplemented with subtitles in different languages.

A promotional Video was created to engage different stakeholder groups in the Mobility Lab within Dudullu metro station.