CONEXUS

The goal of CONEXUS is to co-produce, structure, and promote access to the shared and contextualized knowledge needed to support cities and communities to co-create NBS and restore urban ecosystems to help drive the necessary step change in urban policy and practice in EU and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) countries. The project adopts a planetary health perspective: healthy landscapes and ecosystems are vital to sustain human life, and humanity must restore, create and heal these landscapes and ecosystems in a reciprocal, continuous and iterative relationship. This transdisciplinary project uses nature-based thinking (NBT) to bring together community, private, public, and research partners to address this challenge, and experiments with new co-production methods to deliver innovative NBS in “Life-Labs” and pilot projects. The central concept of the project is to co-create context-appropriate NBS for ecosystem restoration and sustainable urbanization in CELAC and EU cities, using a place-based approach (place-making, place-keeping and place-prescribing), and solving problems together with citizens.

European Partner

The University Of Sheffield (UK) – Coordinator, Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet (SE), Oppla Eeig (NL), Iclei European Secretariat Gmbh (DE), Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (CO), Universita Degli Studi Di Firenze (IT), Instituto Alexander Von Humboldt (CO), Camara Municipal De Lisboa (PT), Instituto De Ciencias Sociais – Universidade De Lisboa (PT), Universidad De Chile (CL), Technische Universitaet Muenchen (DE), Universidade De Sao Paulo (BR), Consejo Nacional De Investigaciones Cientificas Y Tecnicas (AR), Facultad De Arquitectura Disenoy Urbanismo – Universidad De Buenos Aires (AR), European Urban Knowledge Network European Grouping Of Territoral Cooperation (NL), Living Cities Stockholm Ab (SE), Wageningen University (NL), Barcelona Regional Agencia Metropolitana De Desenvolupament Urbanistici D.Infrastructures Sa (ES), Centro De Investigacion Ecologica Y Aplicaciones Forestales (ES), Buenos Aires City Government, Food And Agriculture Organization Of The United Nations Fao (IT), Grupo Verde Ltda Co (CO), Universidad Mayor (CL), Universidad De Santiago De Compostela (ES), Alcaldía Mayor De Bogotá D.C. (CO), Industrial Software Srl (RO), Gobierno Regional Metropolitano Santiago (Cl), Municipalidad De General San Martín (AR), Prefeitura Do Municipio De Sao Paulo (BR), Periferia Territorios Vivos Sac (PE), Min. For Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation & Consumer Protection Of The State Of North Rhine- Westphalia (DE), Instituto Cidades Sustentave (BR).

The project in Torino

The City of Torino will be involved in all major project activities (WPs): Develop a shared understanding on NBS, develop and integrate knowledge of cultural, social, environmental and economic forces that facilitate or inhibit their capacity to develop NBS plans by combining bottom-up knowledge with broader strategic priorities (WP2). Develop local partnerships in the form of “Life-Labs” and foster efforts to identify, initiate and co-create interventions with NBS and integrate them into urban places, plans and policies at multiple scales, applying indicators to demonstrate their effects and long-term viability (WP3). Strengthen the logics and narratives that foster the implementation and creation of NBS, evaluating existing NBS projects and analyzing their services and benefits for having more livable, healthier and resilient cities, to stimulate and guide more cost-effective forms of urban regeneration, including measures, plans and methodologies (WP4). Interact with businesses and communities to value, invest in, and enhance NBS by providing a holistic and transparent assessment of monetary and nonmonetary values, taking into account the totality of benefits produced and assessing the costs and utilities generated with a long-term perspective (WP5). Build and mobilize the collective capacity needed to develop NBS to improve sustainable urbanization plans, sharing resources in teams, facilitating transnational learning communities (WP6).

Pratical steps

In Torino, the project will work closely with another project of the City: Valdocco Vivibile, an environmental redevelopment intervention with a multidisciplinary approach aimed at transforming part of the Valdocco neighborhood. A community of discussion and learning, called Life Lab Valdocco Vivibile, will be built around this project, involving all the actors who in different capacities may be interested in learning about and contributing to the dissemination of both the activities of Valdocco Vivibile and the objectives and motivations behind this intervention: the fight against the negative effects of climate change (in particular heat islands and floods) and the environmental and resilience policies that have found a strategic framework in the Urban Resilience Plan and the Green Infrastructure Plan, recently approved by the City of Torino. The community will build a path of information, awareness and involvement that will accompany and flank the implementation of the work of Valdocco Vivibile.

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