URBiNAT Observatory
The URBiNAT project is a community initiative with an international partnership. Like other projects funded by EU programs focusing on the development of nature-based solutions, URBiNAT faces challenges in standardizing the information collected during its activities. The project has aimed to develop an overarching vision to enhance citizen well-being in urban areas through the implementation of nature-based solutions.
Europe places strong emphasis on the collection, treatment, and protection of data, as well as the principle of open data, open source, and open science. It’s noteworthy to mention that URBiNAT was developed in alignment with the European Commission’s standards and principles regarding open data and science. The Observatory is an advanced digital platform that serves as the main tool for URBiNAT project partners. This platform is intended for the exclusive use of project partners and authorized users, who can access it through login credentials.
Monitoring and evaluation
URBiNAT is a transformative initiative funded by the EU H2020 program aiming to rejuvenate urban neighbourhoods. Its goal is the co-creation of nature-based solutions (NBS) that have social, environmental, and marketable implications, specifically for social housing neighbourhoods. This project means to analyse different areas of the cities, identify and characterize the deprived ones, and rebalance different areas through NBS based regenerative interventions.
Participatory approach, mixed methods, and urban sustainable development in the Horizon 2020 URBiNAT project (Bagnasco et al., 2024) focuses on the effectiveness
of different methods that assess intervention areas prior to the implementation of nature-based solutions: the hypothesis is that integrating objective data with subjective ones collected from the citizens is crucial for evidence-based urban planning and offers outstanding potential for gaining useful insight into urban spaces and their impact on the citizens (Ferilli et al., 2020). This approach is innovative in its perspective: it starts with the identification of a deprived area in a city and, through the implementation of solutions co-designed and co-developed in community-driven processes, it introduces new forms of NBS triggering the creation of so-called healthy corridors.
Wellbeing & health
What are the most impacted key areas of health and wellbeing? Visualize the tangible changes in Health, Wellbeing, Environmental Quality of Life, Physical Activity, Socializing Activity and the average social network from 2018 to 2024.
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Socio-economic
How are the NBS perceived by the stakeholders involved? Explore the socio-economic impact of several NBS in the healthy corridors of frontrunner cities Porto, Nantes and Sofia.
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Governance
The dashboard offers an overview of the main dimensions and components that emerge from the co-creation process of NBS, based on the analysis of the culture and practices of participation in each city, which in turn has had some level of impact on collaborative governance.
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Technical information
The digital platform was developed using various open-source programs, enabling the creation of a customized system that is both stable over time and free from the costs associated with proprietary software. This approach also facilitates the replicability of the platform in other contexts, as it is independent of proprietary rules. The use of open-source software promotes flexibility, accessibility, and the ability to tailor the platform to the specific needs of the URBiNAT project, thereby contributing to efficient resource management and fostering open collaboration among the involved stakeholders.
The digital observatory serves as the central platform where data collected throughout the URBiNAT project’s research phases converge and become publicly visible. These data encompass a broad spectrum of economic, social, and environmental information, integrating participatory approaches and qualitative analyses. Methods such as cultural mapping, walkthroughs, photovoice, interviews, and laboratory analyses have contributed to an in-depth understanding of processes related to the “healthy corridor” project.