Over the past years, UPSURGE has worked with cities, researchers, businesses, and citizens to demonstrate how fit-for-purpose NBS can improve air quality, enhance climate resilience, and support the transition towards carbon-neutral and regenerative urban environments. Through real-life demonstrations, innovative digital tools, multimodal environmental sensing, and the development of the European Regenerative Urban Lighthouse, the project has delivered practical solutions and knowledge to support cities on their regenerative transition pathway.

We invite you to watch the video and explore how UPSURGE contributes to cleaner air, healthier communities, and more resilient cities.

Watch the full video here:

From identifying key urban regeneration challenges to presenting the project’s main outcomes and practical tools for cities, the event demonstrated how nature-based innovation can be successfully scaled across Europe. Inspiring presentations and dynamic panel discussions featured representatives of the Pilot Cities, who shared their experiences, challenges, and lessons learned throughout the project.

What We Demonstrated

• Nature-based solutions deliver clear, evidence-based benefits across environmental, social, and economic dimensions — while also offering attractive opportunities for businesses.
• Social impact, co-creation, and citizen engagement, tested through the project’s innovative Place Labs approach, generate the most effective and long-lasting results.
• Digital tools play a crucial role in transforming complex data into human-centred, adaptable services that support better urban decision-making.
• The Regenerative Index and policy recommendations developed within the project provide cities with powerful instruments to drive meaningful regenerative transformation.

Despite facing diverse challenges and operating within different local contexts, the Pilot Cities achieved remarkable outcomes. Together, they delivered a strong and unified message: reconnecting cities with nature is not only necessary — it is what citizens increasingly expect from the cities of the future.

You can watch a short video relation from the conference on the Katowice City YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9AaYwE09Ro. [PL]

The planting of trees and shrubs has not only created a green oasis in the city but also a living classroom, where children and young people can learn about biodiversity, the impacts of climate change, and the importance of preserving natural ecosystems. Learning in such an environment encourages curiosity, observation, and understanding of natural processes, helping young people develop respect for nature.

As part of the project, we have created a pocket park along the stream bank – the Green Learning Observatory, designed as a space for exploration and observation of nature. Together with a nearby primary school, we organized an outdoor classroom, where pupils used water sensors and portable microscopes to explore water quality and observe microorganisms and plants in their natural habitat. The activity allowed students to experience direct contact with nature and to better understand the importance of protecting aquatic ecosystems.

To encourage residents to explore and appreciate the local environment, we also prepared a brochure about the animals and plants living along the Pekrski Creek. The brochure helps visitors recognize local species and fosters a deeper appreciation for the natural world.

The demo site is thus becoming a living laboratory and an open-air classroom, where science and everyday life meet. This demonstrates that nature-based solutions are not only technical measures but also powerful tools for education, community engagement, and local resilience, helping to guide Maribor towards a greener and more sustainable future.

Regional Development Agency for Podravje – Maribor

We evaluated a set of targeted measures for single senior women. Lectures, workshops and community events – organised around the themes of rain garden maintenance, gardening, and green space maintenance – brought to the localities give an opportunity for senior women to meet, periodically discuss, to share experiences and get support from each other. We found the right framework for our PlaceLab: Budapest18 has an ongoing program for senior citizens, called Senior Academy. We implemented our PlaceLab in its Framework with success.

In February 2025, as the opening presentation of the Senior Academy, we invited Mr Sándor Bardóczi, the Chief Landscape Architect of Budapest – responsible for maintaining, developing, and protecting the capital’s green spaces – to give a lecture. In his presentation, he talked about the positive effects of Nbs on environmental quality and climate change adaptation. He also showed complex green-blue solutions realised in Budapest over recent years, highlighting the importance of rain gardens and rainwater retention. To quote the chief architect: “On a Saturday morning on an empty stomach, talking about rain gardens and water retention in the capital doesn’t seem like a topic that would draw huge crowds. And when you walk into the large hall of a cultural centre and find it completely filled, you wonder whether the focus of public discourse is really well calibrated. Because it really seems that people are genuinely interested in how to retain urban rainwater in a backyard, or municipal or business setting.” (Sándor Bardóczi, Facebook post, February 1, 2025)

The presentation provided an excellent foundation for the four-part training series, which were held in May 2025. Each training session was designed as a half-day program, with a mixed methods to balance gaining knowledge, raising awareness (ecosensitivisation), communicate and highlighting areas where citizen participation can be enhanced.

Participants learned about the basics of nature-based solutions through many international, national, and local examples and their local application possibilities. During our sessions, participants listened to presentations and had the opportunity to engage in discussions with our speakers. Enthusiastic and lively conversations ensued, allowing participants to learn not only from the speakers but also from each other. Each lecture was followed by small group tasks, which provided an opportunity to delve deeper into district environmental and climate issues in practical examples, how to apply what they had heard.

We introduced a large map of BP18 to localise climate-related problems. Participants were asked to identify climate change-related problems specific to their streets. While urban blocks and housing estates struggle with heat islands, in the garden-street areas, topography, pavement coverage, and local interventions (ditch filling, concrete retaining walls) result in flash floods and water damage.

One of the sessions in the series was devoted to visiting rain gardens and green solutions implemented in the district. During the tour, participants assessed how much the solutions presented help to solve the district’s climate and environmental problems (air quality, flash floods, summer temperatures), how aesthetically pleasing they are, how useful they are to the local population, and how they can be considered as models (design, implementation, maintenance) for similar projects. The ranking helped to highlight the success factors of a rain garden or NbS.

Our venue was the Tomory Lajos Museum, where the earliest rain garden was established, which could be visited by the participants repeatedly during the training. At this location, we could show native, easy-to-care-for plant species and bring the importance of soil, the role of mulching, and weeding closer to life.

As a result of the training program, the participants gained knowledge about local environmental issues and NbS. The knowledge about local climate change and environmental issues increased from 4.48 to 7.55, of urban nature-based solutions from 4.33 to 7.5, and of rain gardens from 3.48 to 8.05 (1 to 10 scale). Participants rated the training at 9.75.

The course was organised by the Municipality of Pestszentlőrinc-Pestszentimre, Budapest, within the framework of the UPSURGE project, with the participation of its professional staff and within the framework of the Senior Academy. To broaden the interaction between local stakeholders, other partners were involved, like BURST, Városgazda18, the Lajos Tomory Museum, and a local NGO, the Civil Greeners Association.