With a total of 37 partners from a range of different fields — including research and development, public institutions, companies and non-profit organizations — as well as four frontrunner cities and five follower cities, URBREATH is a pioneering project in the field of urban development. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO is in charge of scaling and replicating innovative solutions and methods within the project. The Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management IAT at the University of Stuttgart is responsible for the co-creative development of decision aids which are intended to help various stakeholders to plan and implement NBS, and will also be monitoring the solutions implemented as part of the project.
Tailored solutions for participating cities
The primary aim of URBREATH is to develop and implement NBS as a means of addressing the problems facing European cities and regions due to geopolitical, economic, social and climate-related changes. As well as offering ecological advantages, the intention is that these solutions will provide social and economic benefits and boost the resilience of cities.
As part of the project, NBS will be implemented in the frontrunner cities of Madrid (ESP), Leuven (BEL), Tallinn (EST) and Cluj-Napoca (ROU), which have been chosen deliberately to reflect different climate zones within Europe. The follower cities will learn from their experiences. By implementing NBS in different climate zones and integrating social and technical innovations including AI technologies and digital twins, URBREATH is aiming to develop solutions that are tailored to the respective needs of the participating cities. The project will use high-resolution regional climate models and advanced visualization techniques to evaluate the impact of the NBS measures and incorporate them into participatory urban planning processes.
Project kick-off and next steps
Dr. Francesco Mureddu, senior director of the Lisbon Council and project coordinator, highlighted the significance of the project: “The project will provide key skills and tools for the development and implementation of NBS which are able to close urban water cycles, reduce pollution and improve biodiversity and well-being in cities.”
The project was officially launched at the start of February 2024 in Leuven, Belgium. At the kick-off event, the frontrunner cities presented the pilot areas that will be used to implement NBS, thus serving as the foundation for the development of tools to aid this implementation.
“As part of the URBREATH project, we are looking forward to contributing to the development of sustainable, resilient cities and helping to design innovative solutions for the challenges of the 21st century,” says Alisa Krumm, research scientist at the University of Stuttgart IAT and member of the Fraunhofer IAO Urban Economy Innovation research team.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO