RESEARCH COORDINATION OBJECTIVES

  • Use an interdisciplinary approach applied by the different working groups to map occurring resources within the urban biosphere, especially provided by NBS systems.
  • Develop appropriate communication methods promoting resource recovery for consumers and built up public awareness on the benefits of the closing the loop approach.
  • Identify, analyse and report the existing state of the art of, and investigate novel possibilities for NBS implementations in the urban landscape by involving stakeholders such as city officials, urban planners and engineers.
  • Investigate resource flows within the urban biosphere and define interfaces for closing the loop, and analyse possible resource streams interlinking the four defined urban metabolisms, namely Built Environment, Urban Water, Resources Recovery, and Urban Farming.
  • Identify key barriers to implementation and limitations in market systems.
  • Analyse available tools for stakeholder engagement and system transformation.
  • Combine different dissemination strategies such as scientific publications, presentation to stakeholders and creation of implementation guidelines.
  • Collect case studies that show flagship examples describing occurring resource surplus and reuse by using NBS, and assess the dynamics of the recovered resources and NBS in multiple EU countries.
  • Identify and address regulatory, governance, financial and legal drivers and barriers for NBS implementation and use of recovered resources, and support institutional change to better regulatory governance.
  • Search for integrative solutions for closing the cycles in the city that contain (encompass) NBS, but must not be solely based on NBS.

CAPACITY-BUILDING OBJECTIVES

Through inter- and trans-disciplinary collaboration of different fields, the development of novel approaches combining different technologies is possible. The main focus concerning the capacity building will be based on:

  • Widen the field of knowledge within each working group by incorporating a joint research approach.
  • Involvement of special target groups such as city official, urban planners and engineers, gender equality and involvement of underrepresented /less research-intensive countries.
  • Training of Early Career Investigators (ECI), PhD students and representatives from Inclusiveness Target Countries (ITC), in the implementation of interdisciplinary approaches concerning resource recovery, reuse and coordinating resource streams within the urban landscape when developing structural measures using NBS.
  • Actively involve ECI, PhD students and representatives from ITC in conferences, workshops and training schools to create a new generation of excellence.
  • Use Short-Term-Scientific-Missions (STSMs) to create joint knowledge approach