#Transforming Cities18 gathers in A Coruña 200 experts on NBS


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More than 180 International experts on nature-based solutions will gather in A Coruña on May to participate in the Horizon 2020 European Dialogue and Clustering Action “Transforming cities, enhancing wellbeing: innovating with nature-based solutions”

  • The Rector of the UDC, Julio Abalde and the Mayor of A Coruña, Xulio Ferreiro, opened the symposium, together with the organizers, Adina Dumitru and Ricardo García Mira.
  • Keynotes include representatives from the European Commission, the European Investment Fund, the European Environment Agency or experts such as Jeniffer Senick (USA), David Maddox (USA) or Nick Pearce (UK).
  • More than 20 cities will present their experiences to improve the quality of life of citizens through the implementation of green infrastructures and solutions based on nature. Representatives from Paris, London, Copenhagen or Bologna will share experiences with A Coruña or Santiago de Compostela.
  • The plenary sessions on the mornings of May 16, 17 and 18 are open to the public (free of charge) and will have English-Galician translation.

The Horizon 2020 European Dialogue and Clustering Action “Transforming cities, enhancing wellbeing: innovating with nature-based solutions” will take place in the City of A Coruña (Spain), next May 16-18, 2018. This is a joint initiative of two large-scale European projects Connecting Nature and the support platform Think Nature. Transforming Cities 18Fundación Barrié and the Research Institute Xoan Vicente Viqueira.

#Transforming Cities18 is an exciting three days event which combines inspirational keynotes, City Summits and plenary panel discussions among high-level experts in the field of nature-based solutions. The event adopts the highly dynamic and interactive format of a pressure cooker, with guiding questions and specific outcomes prepared for each day aimed at learning and exchange among participants.

Cities Summits are 90-minute sessions in which a combination of cities and city-planners, researchers and enterprise representatives with long experience in nature-based solutions present their innovative experience in implementing and measuring the impact of green infrastructures and discuss how to create robust an innovative forms for NBS assessment.

#Transforming Cities18 focus on 3 main themes:

EIGHT EU FUNDED PROJECTS WILL PRESENT DIFFERENT APPROACHES ON NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS IMPACT ASSESSMENT

The event will bring together representatives from the European Commission and other international institutions dealing with the funding, monitoring and evaluation of nature-based solutions, such as the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Investment Bank or the European Environmental Agency, EU-Brazil – Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication, the European Dredging Association – EuDA, the European Platform of Construction Technology (ECTP), the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, WWF.

Eight European-wide research projects, CONNECTING NATURE, THINK NATURE, Urban GreenUP, GROWGREEN, UNALAB, PHUSICOS, ISOCARP and NAIAD will showcase their demonstration actions of large-scale design, implementation and evaluation of NBS.

Among the relevant keynotes and speakers, #Transforming Cities18 counts with the representative of the European Commission,Josefina Enfedaque, Ariana Nastaseanu, Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), Giovanni Fini, Bologna City Council, Adina Dumitru, University of A Coruña,Ricardo García-Mira, University of A Coruña, Nikolaos Nikolaidis,Technical University of Crete, Denia Kolokotsa, Technical University of Crete, Nick Pearce, University of Bath, Marcus Collier, Trinity College Dublin, David Maddox, The Nature of Cities, Gillian Dick, Glasgow City Council, Andreas Littkopf, Austria Environmental Agency, Jennifer Senick, Rutgers Center for Green Building, Kate Reilly, IUCN-International Union for Conservation of Nature, Siobhan McQuaid, Trinity College Dublin, Jean-Marc Tacnet, IRSTEA, Niki Frantzeskaki, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Alice Reil, ICLEI-Europe, Katrien van de Sijpe, Genk city council, Marino Cavallo,University of Bologna, José Juan Díaz Trillo, Spanish Parliament, Jose Manuel Silva Rodríguez, Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, María García Gómez, A Coruña City Council, among others. Consult in the bio of the keynotes and speakers who are presenting their experience in the event HERE.

EXPECTED OUTCOMES

The main conclusions from the Horizon 2020European Dialogue and Clustering Action Transforming cities, enhancing wellbeing: innovating with NBS will be elaborated to take the form of a “Roadmap for Research and Action on establishing a reference framework for NBS in addressing social challenges”. This will be made publicly available and will mark a milestone in the streamlining of efforts from both cities, policymakers, academics for accelerating transitions to more vibrant cities and sustainable cities in Europe and beyond.

Also, and based on the main discussions regarding the NBS impact evaluation, a white paper will be produced offering an overview of the current developments in the NBS field, identifying new tools and opportunities for monitoring of NBS and showing the added value of it, all illustrated with examples and aimed at informing the EU urban planning & sustainability policies.


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