Introduction to the Project

The UNaLab Consortium is comprised of 28 partners from 10 cities across Europe and beyond, including municipalities, research, business and industry. The UNaLab partner cities are committed to address climate- and water-related urban challenges with an innovative and citizen-driven approach. The UNaLab cities aim to develop smarter, more inclusive, more resilient and increasingly sustainable societies through innovative nature-based solutions.

Project Objectives

The three front-runner cities - Eindhoven, Tampere and Genova - are through the establishment of Urban Living Lab (ULL) demonstration areas experimenting, demonstrating and evaluating a range of different nature-based solutions (NBS) targeting climate change mitigation and adaptation along with the sustainable management of water resources. These solutions have been co-created with and for local stakeholders and citizens.

The front-runner cities actively collaborate and share their experiences with the five European follower cities - Stavanger, Prague, Castellón, Cannes and Başakşehir - and support them in their development of individual NBS roadmaps, which is done through a co-creative approach. The non-European follower cities and the observers actively learn from the European NBS approach, which will enable the creation of a global NBS marketplace.

The project results will enable the development of a European NBS reference framework on benefits, cost-effectiveness, economic viability and replicability of nature-based solutions.

ERRIN's Role

ERRIN is responsible for the UNaLab project's communication and dissemination activities. This includes managing the project's website and social media channels; developing promotional material and publications; organising and participating in events; engaging in promotional activities; stakeholder engagement; and fostering replication.

The project will produce a wide range of information, best practices, tools and guidelines which will be gathered in a Replication Framework and which will guide cities across Europe and beyond in developing and implementing their own co-created nature-based solutions. ERRIN's role is to contribute to the general discussions around the potential of nature-based solutions and to disseminate the resources deriving from the project towards relevant stakeholder groups in an innovative and effective way.

  • Heidi Johansson
  • Project Manager
  • Ryan Titley
  • Director of Projects

ERRIN Members

Benefit & Links

An important objective of the UNaLab project is to raise awareness of nature-based solutions and to promote and foster the uptake of these innovative solutions in cities beyond the project. The project is generating a wide range of information, best practices, guidelines and tools to allow cities to learn from the work that has been done within UNaLab, and to enable them to plan and implement their own nature-based solutions.

ERRIN members can benefit both by taking part of the key outcomes and results of the UNaLab project, which continuously are disseminated towards the membership through ERRIN’s communication channels, as well as by participating in the project’s events and activities.

Latest Updates

The Nature of Cities Festival
  • By Heidi Johansson

How to successfully adopt Urban Living Labs

The UNaLab project is as part of The Nature of Cities Festival organising an interactive workshop on the successful adoption of Urban Living Labs, taking place on 23 February at 16:15 CET.

Promotional picture for the webinar series
  • By Heidi Johansson

UNaLab Project Consortium Webinar Series

The UNaLab project is organising a three-day webinar series between 24-26 November to highlight the application of tools and resources developed by the project to the various phases of the implementation of nature-based solutions.

Urban park with trees and a pond
  • By Heidi Johansson

Webinar: The importance of urban green and blue spaces for mental health

The UNaLab project, in which ERRIN is a partner, is together with the Grow Green, Connecting Nature and CLEVER Cities projects organising a webinar focusing on the importance of urban green and blue spaces for mental health in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Finnish municipalities contributing to super year of nature
  • By Hilary Webb

EU Green Week: Finnish municipalities contributing to super year of nature

Several Finnish municipalities are coming together to share their contributions to biodiversity protection. The UNaLab project will be presented as part of this EU Green Week Partner Event.

BRIGAID
  • By Hilary Webb

Bridging the gap for innovations in disaster resilience

The H2020 project BRIGAID - a four-year project that aimed to bridge the gap between innovators and end-users in resilience to floods, droughts and extreme weather events - is hosting an interactive online conference.

Living Labbers Webinar
  • By Heidi Johansson

Living Labbers Webinar #9: UNaLab NBS in the City of Eindhoven

The Living Labbers webinar series of the European Network of Living Labs showcases the variety of living labs across the globe.