On 6th and 7th November 2024 we met in Patras with the practitioners from the Municipality of Patras. Our goal was to validate services for the EU Regenerative Urban Lighthouse — a consultancy service framework designed to support cities embarking on green regeneration initiatives. This framework leverages insights and results from the UPSURGE project, guiding urban areas in their journey toward sustainability and resilience. Patras has an impressive track record in environmental projects and stakeholder engagement, making it an ideal collaborator for the Lighthouse.
That workshop featured interactive sessions exploring and validating the four pillars and the associated services of the UPSURGE Lighthouse:
- Resources Hub
- Marketplace
- Capacity Building
- Consulting Services
The second day of our workshop, alongside representatives from the Patras Municipality, we were exploring how nature-based solutions (NBS) can help tackle climate adaptation challenges specific to Patras. Our focus: the Patras Lighthouse case, centered around a school complex affected by urban heat islands, air pollution, water scarcity, and noise.
We visited the school complex, setting the stage for discussions on targeted NBS interventions. Leveraging the insights and co-creation approaches of the UPSURGE project, we’re identifying ways to implement solutions based on participatory processes and system thinking. Together, we’re envisioning a healthier, more resilient Patras through designing effective regulatory ecosystem services based on NBS to be designed and implemented in the school complex next year.
Patras has very clear vision and expectations from the planned NBS:
- Implementing NBS solutions that provide environmental benefits for students by improving air quality, reducing noise, and mitigating the urban heat island effect.
- Ensuring NBS solutions are low-maintenance and cost-effective.
- Enabling the replicability of these interventions in other schools, so that even if only 10% adopt NBS measures, it would significantly enhance environmental awareness among students, parents, and educators.
- Aligning the project with other initiatives, such as those focused on renewable energy communities, to create complementary and sequential benefits.
Patras stands to gain from the five UPSURGE NBS demo cases, which provide practical, scalable interventions to mitigate urban heat, enhance air quality, and improve water retention. Through the EU Regenerative Urban Lighthouse, UPSURGE can also facilitate peer-to-peer exchanges with other projects where NBS have been successfully implemented, taking into account diverse social and cultural contexts. We strongly believe that our discussions and the proposed approach will support Patras in selecting the most suitable solutions with high replication/upscaling potential tailored to its unique needs.
