We are looking for an European city with expertise in Nature based Solutions (NBS) and that want to quantify and improve the benefits that this type of solutions has on its environment, economy and society. Your role in the project will be act as a Front Runner, a demonstrator and a model to be followed by other cities. For this type of H2020, cities’ costs are granted at 100%.

This project will be submitted to the H2020 topic SCC-02-2017-b)- Demonstrating innovative nature-based solutions in cities. Nature-based solutions for inclusive urban regeneration, of which final goal is creating by 2020, through the implementation of nature-based solutions, healthier, culturally diverse and greener regenerated (including deprived districts and neglected or abandoned areas) European cities.

Nowadays, NBS are being more and more implemented, however to be 100% effective it is necessary to adapt them to the specific characteristics of the place. Architects, urban planners and policy makers have expressed the need of tools to support them in decision-making. Here is where our project comes into play. A group of researchers led by the University of Tuscia in the province of Viterbo (central Italy) are developing models to evaluate the sustainability of NBS taking into account all the cycles that it generates and the interconnection of ecological, social and economic issues, which represents a significant advance over the state-of-the-art. These models are based on the Second Principle of Termodynamics (STL) for open systems and the Principle of Maximum Entropy.

Based on these principles for sustainability this project aims to develop a tool for supporting decision-making that will be systematically integrated into the Sustainable Urbanization Plan your city, as well as promoting the concept of Low Entropy Cities quantifying and disseminating its benefits. Moreover, the proposal strategy would contribute to accomplish two main urban planning EU objectives: the undelayable necessity to reduce the urban ecological footprint and the essential need to face local disservices and social problems.

A “Low-entropy City” is defined as human sociocultural niches with lower entropy releasement into the biosphere by adopting strategies that mimic the structure and functioning of ecosystems according to SLT and circular economy of Nature, as the example of most sustainable system (Ho, 2013). In general, these objectives can be reached by the following actions:

• the reduction of dissipative systems;
• the closure of cycles;
• the maximization of reciprocity, symbiosis, cooperative relationships,
• the increase of landscape diversity and complexity;
• the enhancement of exchange of energy and matter.

If you are interested in this proposal, you can contact me at  in order to further detail the role and collaboration terms according to the characteristic of your city.

I want to draw your attention to the fact that due to the call closes on the 07th of March 2017, this is going to move ;If the proposal succeeded, work would be starting approximately around October 2017.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours faithfully,

Beatriz Corrak EKOTEK R&D&i Project Manager

 Environment

 Smart Cities

 Urban Innovative Actions