The session invites contributions that demonstrate the use of citizen science datasets, participatory sensing technologies, and the integration of citizen science with Earth Observations, AI, modeling, and system-based approaches to assess both adaptation and mitigation measures in the context of climate change and broader environmental challenges. At the same time, it emphasizes processes, methods, and tools that help identify and incorporate interdependencies across climate mitigation and adaptation and environmental domains, moving beyond sectoral silos to support coordinated urban planning and policy development. Particular interest lies in innovative engagement models involving underrepresented or vulnerable groups, stakeholder-driven approaches that raise awareness of cross-sector interactions, and case studies showing how participatory and integrative methods can address data gaps, support community-led action, and inform local policies—including in resource-constrained settings and low- and middle-income countries. The session fosters cross-disciplinary and cross-regional dialogue among researchers, practitioners, policymakers, technologists, and data scientists working toward climate-resilient, low-carbon, and inclusive cities.
Orals: Wed, 6 May, 10:45–12:30 | Room 2.17
In many low- and middle-income countries, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation are constrained by data scarcity, limited institutional capacity, and difficulties accessing affected areas. These challenges are particularly acute in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where insecurity, remoteness, and scarce resources hinder monitoring of natural hazard disasters. The Kivu Citizen Observer (Kivu CO) network provides a case study of how citizen science can address these challenges while supporting community-led awareness-raising and evidence-informed policymaking.
Established in 2019, the Kivu CO network mobilizes representatives from the Civil Protection, also deeply rooted in their community, who have been trained to collect real-time information on floods, landslides, wind and hail storms, lightning, and earthquakes using smartphone-based reporting tools connected to an online platform. To date, more than 1.200 disasters have been documented across North and South Kivu provinces, generating the first continuous, geo-referenced dataset about natural hazard disasters occurring in the region. These data are compiled into a WebGIS and regular analytical reports disseminated by local scientists to the Civil Protection, local authorities, NGOs, and other research institutions, supporting disaster response, land-use planning, and risk communication.
Beyond filling critical data gaps, the network strengthens awareness-raising capacity. Citizen observers share their knowledge about hazard processes and how to reduce their impacts; they also act as trusted intermediaries between communities, scientists, and institutions, enhancing awareness, preparedness, and local ownership of risk-related information. At the same time, the initiative highlights key challenges for citizen science in resource-constrained settings, including sustaining volunteer engagement, ensuring participant safety, and integrating community-generated data into formal decision-making frameworks. Citizen science in this context is not an exact replica of what is developing in northern countries.
As such, the Kivu CO experience demonstrates that citizen science can function both as a robust data-generation mechanism and as a catalyst for inclusive, locally grounded adaptation and policymaking in fragile contexts.
How to cite: Michellier, C., Mana Ngotuly, T., Maki Mateso, J. C., Ndagana, J., and Kervyn, F.: From data scarcity to local action: The Kivu Citizen Observer network as an asset for community-led awareness raising, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22049, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22049, 2026.
Urban heat stress varies strongly at local scales, shaping everyday exposure to high temperatures and humidity across streets, neighbourhoods, and public spaces. However, official monitoring networks often lack the spatial and temporal detail needed to capture these fine-scale conditions. Citizen science and low-cost sensors offer a promising pathway to complement existing systems with localized, high-frequency observations that reflect how heat is experienced in cities.
In this study we collaborated with residents and city partners in four European cities (Athens, Cascais, Riga, and Utrecht) to collect geolocated temperature and relative humidity data using more than 300 low-cost sensors. Participants contributed around 160,000 observations, capturing fine-scale variation in urban microclimates and illustrating how Urban ReLeaf, a Horizon Europe initiative, strengthens citizen-powered data ecosystems for urban climate resilience.
Data collection followed three complementary approaches. Most participants carried sensors during their daily activities and collected data where and when they chose. A second approach equipped municipal street cleaners with sensors during their regular work routes, providing more systematic coverage of public spaces and their working conditions. A third approach deployed sensors for short periods at predefined locations to support targeted comparison and calibration.
We demonstrate how these citizen-powered observations can be transformed into usable climate information, from filtering reliable spatial records to addressing uneven sampling in time and space. We also explore modelling approaches that leverage the richness of high-frequency, mobile measurements despite their inherent heterogeneity. The results reveal microclimate patterns that remain largely unseen by fixed monitoring networks, particularly at the spatial scales that matter for everyday heat exposure and urban design decisions. We share practical pathways for incorporating citizen science data into urban monitoring efforts and highlight their potential relevance for heat adaptation, greenspace planning, and public health.
How to cite: Hofer, M., Moorthy, I., Harwell, T., Hager, G., and Tsilimanis, G.: Capturing street-level heat: Citizen-based high-frequency observations of urban microclimates , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18097, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18097, 2026.
Increasing frequency and severity of surface water floods are driven by disruption of weather patterns due to climate change, and partly due to land use change from increasing urbanisation. Despite their large societal impact, surface water floods have received less attention compared to other forms of flooding, partly due to the complexity of identifying surface water risks. Flood mapping and modelling tools used to predict surface water inundation require significant data inputs, which are often unavailable both in terms of resolution and density in resource-limited countries. Though the use of citizen science is witnessed in flood modelling, monitoring, and mapping, these efforts have been mostly limited to validation of the prediction models. Thus, the data gap analysis identified on initial phase of this research highlighted the importance of implementing a citizen science approach to address the gaps in topographic data, which is imperative for flood risk mapping and modelling.
This study adopts a mixed-method approach of qualitative and quantitative analysis to explore the feasibility of citizen-driven data to develop an enhanced Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in a resource-limited, low-income country, Nepal. DEMs were produced using the geo-coordinates recorded by seventeen community volunteers using their Smartphones under different scenarios using smoothing filters like the Low Pass Filter and Kalman Filter in a GIS interface. The most accurate scenario-based DEM was then utilised to develop a 2D HEC-RAS flood model and flood hazard map for a flood event that occurred in July 2018 in the Hanumante River, Bhaktapur, Nepal. The results were then compared to those produced using the freely available SRTM 30m resolution topographic global dataset.
The study indicates that the accuracy of DEMs created using citizen science and the reliability of the resulting flood risk mapping are shaped by several influences, such as the volunteers’ backgrounds, their motivation levels, the precision of the devices and applications they use to record data, and the safety of the conditions in which data are gathered. Among all participants, students proved to be the most engaged and dependable contributors. The research also showed that directing volunteers to map specific locations leads to higher-quality datasets compared to letting them collect points casually as part of their everyday movements. When collected consistently and with the necessary components, community-driven data can significantly enhance flood risk mapping and modelling. This is especially helpful in data-scarce environments where even minor topographical changes might modify surface water behaviour.
Overall, this study shows that citizen-generated data and community involvement can produce current, affordable topographic data that closes important gaps in conventional datasets. This technique improves local knowledge of terrain characteristics and raises community awareness of surface water flood risk. This demonstrates the wider benefits of citizen science for gathering environmental data, especially in areas where traditional data sources are still scarce.
How to cite: Acharya, P., Bracken, L., and Sandells, M.: Citizens as Sensors! Integrating the Role of People for Surface Water Flood Mapping by Enhancing Open-Sourced DEM, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-4024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-4024, 2026.
Citizen science plays an important role in supporting the objectives of the European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One of its main strengths lies in addressing data gaps in the monitoring and management of aquatic ecosystems, particularly small rivers that often national and sub-national monitoring programs cannot monitor for resources’ limitations. In a recent work, we examined the opportunities and challenges associated with integrating citizen science data with datasets produced by Environmental Agencies. By analysing publications focused on freshwater citizen science, we particularly highlighted those found to actively employ data generated by citizens. Our study revealed that even though citizen-generated data can achieve high accuracy levels when compared with laboratory measurements, issues of trust in citizen science data and methodologies persist, leading to limited engagement by policymakers and regulatory bodies. This presentation highlights key challenges, opportunities and best practices for collaboration with environmental agencies, with examples of initiatives aimed at supporting the WFD and enhancing the overall impact of freshwater citizen science across Europe and beyond.
How to cite: Galgani, L., Gumiero, B., Veronesi, L., Corsi, A., Cirrone, R. G., Tafi, A., and Loiselle, S. A.: Citizen Science for Freshwater Monitoring: Linking the Water Framework Directive, the Sustainable Development Goals, and Local Environmental Regulations, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5290, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5290, 2026.
The building sector is essential for integrated global climate action, requiring a balanced approach that simultaneously addresses adaptation to climate risks and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. From an adaptation perspective, securing sufficient energy for cooling and heating is critical to reduce temperature-induced climate risks under extreme heat and cold conditions. From a mitigation perspective, substantial reductions are necessary not only in operational energy consumption with low demand strategies but also in the embodied carbon associated with retrofitting existing buildings and constructing new infrastructure. To support these dual climate targets, most integrated assessment studies initiate the projection of future energy and material demands by estimating building floor area, which serves as the fundamental proxy for quantifying service demand and material intensity.
However, existing studies predominantly relying on national-level variables are overly simplistic, as they typically model floor area solely as a function of income and population. This approach fails to capture the spatial heterogeneity within countries. In particular, it neglects the dynamic changes in floor area driven by increasing population density during urban growth. As a result, these models cannot capture how distinct urban forms interact with local climates to drive energy demand, limiting the feasibility of spatially explicit climate strategies
To address these limitations, this study proposes the BADAG (Building-stock Advanced Dynamic Applying Geospatial) framework, a bottom-up approach for estimating future building stock at a 1 km resolution under SSP scenarios. We constructed a comprehensive global spatial database integrating gridded socioeconomic indicators with building attributes from the Global Human Settlement Layer (GHS-OBAT). Our grid-level estimation model analyzes key determinants of floor area demand, simulating the non-linear dynamics linking floor area intensity to changes in population density and household size. Additionally, by leveraging regional correlations between floor area density and urban morphology defined by Local Climate Zone (LCZ) categories, we projected future urban structures. A rigorous calibration process was also implemented to correct potential underestimations in satellite-based datasets.
Applying this framework reveals significant divergences from conventional projections. In the Global South, our model estimates a lower total floor area than previously projected, suggesting that traditional methods overestimated stock by neglecting the limiting effects of increasing population density on per capita space. Conversely, in the Global North, total floor area is projected to increase despite slower growth, driven by shrinking household sizes and lower urban densities. Consequently, these structural shifts lead to a relative increase in cooling and heating energy demand in the Global North and a decrease in the Global South compared to conventional baselines.
These findings suggest that previous assessments may have misallocated climate risks and mitigation burdens due to inaccurate demand baselines. By providing a refined, spatially explicit estimation of building stock, this study demonstrates that advancing floor area projections is a fundamental prerequisite for valid integrated assessment. This enhanced projection enables stakeholders to correctly identify interdependencies between mitigation (operational and embodied emissions) and adaptation (energy requirements), ensuring strategies are based on realistic future urban contexts under SSP scenarios.
How to cite: Choi, Y., Park, C., and Mastrucci, A.: BADAG(Building-stock Advanced Dynamic Applying Geospatial) Framework : High-Resolution Gridded Estimation of Future Building Stock, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-8871, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-8871, 2026.
Approximately one billion people live in informal settlements on marginal land, where climate risks intersect with inadequate infrastructure, insecure tenure, and weak state support. These structural conditions heighten vulnerability and disproportionately burden residents—especially women—with disaster preparedness, risk communication, and everyday adaptation. Yet, they have developed under-recognized forms of collective organization, situated knowledge, and adaptive practices. Addressing these gaps, this study develops and tests a community-based, transferable Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) model tailored to informal settlements.
The CRA unfolds in four phases: (1) mapping local leadership structures and civil society organizations; (2) technical–community mapping of risk and resilience dynamics; (3) integrating the Climate–Gender–Favela Nexus; and (4) adapting and transferring the CRA framework across Global South contexts. The model was implemented in Jardim Colombo, an informal settlement in São Paulo (≈12,000 residents; 814.4 inhabitants/ha), through an iterative process shaped by local priorities, community leadership, and multi-actor engagement.
Phase 1 conceptualized resilience as a multi-scalar, relational process shaped by leaders, NGOs, and residents across social, environmental, educational, and political spheres. Phase 2 integrated open-access geospatial data with gender-disaggregated household interviews (n = 304 adults) to map hazards, exposure, and vulnerability. Phase 3 examined the climate–gender–favela nexus through focus groups with women (n = 64), in-depth interviews with multi-actor (n = 12), a workshop with the Community Leadership Board (n = 7), and a co-designed 3D participatory modelling session with women residents and Civil Defense (n = 26), centering women’s leadership and collective practices in risk assessment and resilience-building.
Findings reveal a densely built, infrastructure-poor environment—marked by narrow alleys, steep stairways, improvised electrics, inadequate drainage, and “buried” dwellings with poor light and ventilation—exposed to multi-hazards, including extreme heat, landslides, and flash floods. Surface temperatures are up to 8 °C higher near favelas than in tree-covered areas; microclimate simulations show a 20 °C mean radiant temperature difference between an open street and a tunnel-like alley, and indoor temperatures of 36 °C in fibre-cement roof dwellings on open street versus 29 °C in similar dwellings on alleys. Slopes of 8–45% intensify runoff, erosion, and flash floods, while precarious drainage heightens sanitary risks and the probability of flooding and landslides.
Socioeconomic vulnerability is driven by widespread insecure tenure (85% without titles), absence of nearby public schools, low educational attainment (30% with incomplete primary), low income (44% earning ≤ R$ 2,000), and precarious access to water, electricity, and sanitation. Gender-disaggregated data show that women have lower incomes and education than men, and that 8 in 10 simultaneously carry productive, reproductive, and community management responsibilities, amplifying both their exposure to climate risks and their socioeconomic vulnerability.
CRA has informed co-produced recommendations for climate adaptation and risk reduction, spanning low- and high-complexity interventions that integrate public policy, infrastructure upgrades, and nature-based solutions. The final phase will synthesise the 12‑month process with community leaders and women residents to refine the model and assess its limitations, before piloting its transferability in an informal settlement in Mozambique to advance South–South learning and more inclusive climate risk governance.
How to cite: Tavares P., C., Damasceno Pereira, R., and Holloway, P.: Transferability of resilience in informal settlements (TRIS): a model for assessing climate risk and empowering women as decision-makers, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14146, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14146, 2026.
Marine litter represents a persistent and transboundary pressure on coastal ecosystems, requiring monitoring approaches that are both scientifically robust and socially inclusive. This contribution presents From Trash2Treasure, an innovative citizen science protocol designed to support participatory mapping and monitoring of beach litter while simultaneously fostering environmental awareness and scientific literacy. The campaign is implemented worldwide through coordinated field activities involving students and local participants.
The paper analyses and compares three Mediterranean case studies identified as litter accumulation hotspots: Kavouri Beach (Greece), Amendolara (southern Italy), and Villapiana Scalo (southern Italy). Using a standardized and replicable protocol, participants conducted systematic beach surveys combining litter collection, categorisation, spatial mapping, and qualitative observations on potential sources and drivers of debris accumulation. Data were collected following harmonised procedures to ensure comparability across sites, while maintaining accessibility for non-expert participants.
Results demonstrate that citizen science can generate coherent and spatially explicit datasets capable of capturing site-specific litter patterns, dominant material types, and recurrent accumulation zones. Cross-case comparison highlights both shared trends, such as the prevalence of plastic items, and local specificities linked to coastal morphology, human activities, and hydrodynamic conditions. Beyond data production, the protocol proved effective in engaging participants in critical reflection on marine pollution, strengthening the science–society interface.
Overall, the From Trash2Treasure experience supports citizen science as a valuable and scalable tool for beach litter monitoring, complementing conventional scientific surveys. The approach supports long-term monitoring strategies, contributes to evidence-based coastal management, and promotes active public participation in addressing marine environmental challenges and localization of SDG 14.
How to cite: Vito, D., Fernandez, G., and Mclaughlin, J.: From Trash2Treasure: Turning Citizen Science into an Innovative Protocol for Mapping and Monitoring Beach Litter in Mediterranean Hotspots, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-16755, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-16755, 2026.
At a time when reducing emissions is becoming more urgent, and when climate impacts are intensifying, European regions and cities are grappling with the double challenge of planning climate mitigation and adaptation. Project KNOWING investigated how state-of-the-art scientific methods can be leveraged to assist the design of future pathways that integrate mitigation and adaptation interventions in a rational way. We present here the results of this investigation for the city of Naples, focusing on the emerging climate risks: from compound pluvial and coastal flooding, and from heatwaves. Starting from a process of stakeholder consultation and from the local SECAP plans, we defined a set of desirable mitigation and adaptation interventions. This were then simulated through specific domain models, including models of regional and urban climate, marine waves, compound flooding, health impacts, transport, energy supply and energy demand, behaviour. In addition, a model of system dynamics was implemented, to represent the key local processes that are relevant for climate impacts, mitigation and adaptation. Based on the results of both modelling approaches, we designed a local pathway of integrated mitigation and adaptation, which can serve to inform planning in the near and distant future.
How to cite: Scussolini, P., Pisacane, G., Leone, M., Kiesel, J., Bügelmayer-Blaschek, M., Moreno, M., Zach, M., Addabbo, N., Suna, D., Pardo-Garcia, N., Stortecky, S., Falay-Schweiger, B., Hainoun, A., Kokoll, B., Hochebner, A., Goler, R., and Rudloff, C.: Crafting an integrated pathway of adaptation and mitigation for the city of Naples – Experience from the KNOWING project, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21672, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21672, 2026.
Posters on site: Wed, 6 May, 08:30–10:15 | Hall X4
Besides the accelerating and pressing impacts of climate change on ecosystems and environment, it has wide-ranging impacts across multiple sectors, affecting society and economy. Effective adaptation requires systematic evaluation of its impacts and alternative strategies. Socio-economic parameters provide diverse kinds of impact distributions in the long-term and can guide finding the optimal (e.g. in euros, in losses of lives etc.) adaptation strategy for a specific sector. An integral part of these assessments is evaluating the future socio-economic losses caused by climate change and its extensive societal effects. This paper introduces a preliminary economic frameworks aimed at evaluating the impacts generated by different kind of resilience solutions.
Economic evaluation frameworks, e.g., cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA), cost-benefit analysis (CBA), multi-criteria analysis (MCA) or value-chain analysis (VCA) can be used to assess which resilience solution is the most effective and what the cost is if no action is taken. For example, the objective could be to compare different resilience solutions addressing urban heat island effect in a given location to support selecting the most suitable option. Here cost-benefit analysis (CBA) could be applied, which provides a systematic approach to assess the socio-economic performance of each resilience solution, considering their benefits and costs, including both costs of its production and implementation. Conversely, MCA can be used to link environmental, economic, and social systems under different climate scenarios. Incorporating non-market valuation methods (e.g., contingent valuation, hedonic pricing) ensures that intangible effects such as ecosystem degradation or health impacts are also represented in the analysis in comparable terms. Yet, these methods come with their shortcomings, including the difficulty of capturing non-market benefits quantitatively, that should be stated clearly when presenting the results. Further, assessing the distributional effects of climate impacts – how costs and benefits differ across regions, income groups, or generations – is crucial for equitable adaptation policy. Integrating uncertainty analysis and discounting of future impacts plays a key role in translating long-term climate risks into present economic values.
Use of economic evaluation methods offers a structured way to evaluate different resilience solutions in adaptation-related decision-making. Economic evaluation frameworks allow for including societal impacts (benefits and costs) into economic evaluations which ensures that overall well-being and long-term societal effects are considered in the decision-making process. Moreover, economic evaluation allows for comparing different alternatives in monetary or non-monetary terms, which again enable prioritisation of adaptation strategies and assessment of trade-offs between different impacts. Furthermore, including co-benefits such as improved health, job creation, and ecosystem resilience highlights the broader economic rationale for proactive climate adaptation. While the economic approach provides valuable information for decision-makers on how to allocate resources most efficiently, it is always essential to acknowledge the constraints of economic analysis, especially when evaluating qualitative or intangible impacts. For example, altruistic value generated through implementing resilience solutions that is targeted for the most vulnerable groups cannot be captured in quantified, monetary terms, nor can the value of biodiversity be determined for future generations.
How to cite: Kuntsi-Reunanen, E.: Approaches in economic evaluation of climate change adaptation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13986, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13986, 2026.
The integration of climate adaptation and mitigation in urban transformation requires a synthesis of knowledge from two distinct yet interconnected domains. On the one hand, there is the local experiential knowledge, driven by the specific concerns and priorities of the local community. On the other hand, there is the domain of expert knowledge, which is instrumental in evaluating the effects of climate change using quantitative indicators. Current approaches tend to privilege one over the other: co-design methods often lack feedback on the climatic effectiveness of proposed solutions, while simulation-driven processes struggle to incorporate place-based insights and collective preferences [1].
This work presents a hybrid participatory workflow designed to bridge these two domains. The approach involves the use of physical models built with LEGO® bricks integrated with a 3D digital environment (Rhino/Grasshopper) capable of evaluating urban climate scenarios [2] [3]. Participants work with physical models to explore spatial configurations that incorporate urban climate actions such as vegetation implementation, surface material changes, and shading devices. These configurations are then transferred into the digital model, where they undergo climate performance assessment. Results are communicated back to participants, informing subsequent design iterations. This creates a loop in which local knowledge shapes design hypotheses, while expert knowledge provides evaluative feedback, revealing trade-offs between adaptation priorities (e.g., thermal comfort, shading) and mitigation objectives (e.g., reduced energy demand, carbon sequestration).
The workflow was tested within “Dundrum by Design” [4]: a community-based initiative developed in Dublin as part of the European PROBONO project. Preliminary observations focus on how the feedback loop affects participants' understanding of climate interdependencies and their capacity to negotiate conflicting spatial priorities. The contribution analyses the potential and limitations of this approach for facilitating access to expert knowledge without compromising local agency in decision-making processes.
1. Hudson-Smith, A. (2022). Incoming Metaverses: Digital Mirrors for Urban Planning. Urban Planning, 7(2), 343–354. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i2.5193
2. Nocerino, G., Leone, M.F. (2024). WorkerBEE: A 3D Modelling Tool for Climate Resilient Urban Development. In: Calabrò, F., Madureira, L., Morabito, F.C., Piñeira Mantiñán, M.J. (eds) Networks, Markets & People. NMP 2024. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 1189. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-74723-6_2
3. Tewdwr-Jones, M., & Wilson, A. (2022). Co-Designing Urban Planning Engagement and Innovation: Using LEGO® to Facilitate Collaboration, Participation and Ideas. Urban Planning, 7(2). https://www.cogitatiopress.com/urbanplanning/article/view/4960/2587
4. Dundrum by Design (2025). Dundrum by Design [ArcGIS StoryMap]. Esri ArcGIS StoryMaps. Available at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/54c6fddc4cdf4649875dd9802c8ca899
How to cite: Tedesco, S., Nocerino, G., Manganiello, G., Girardi, M. T., and Pallotta, A.: Supporting Participatory Urban Climate Decision-Making Through Hybrid Modelling Tools: Integrating LEGO® models and climate simulation in co-design, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21995, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21995, 2026.
European cities face escalating pressures from air pollution, heat stress, biodiversity loss, and unequal access to greenspaces, alongside widening social inequalities. Urban ReLeaf, a Horizon Europe project, positions citizen science as a means of generating inclusive, fine-grained environmental data to support climate-resilient urban planning. Through pilot activities in Athens, Cascais, Dundee, Mannheim, Riga, and Utrecht, the project explores how different models of citizen engagement and data collection can enrich environmental research, address local data gaps, and inform evidence-based decision-making.
Each city co-designs participatory pilot campaigns aligned with its environmental challenges and policy priorities. Across several pilots, residents contribute high-frequency data using wearable sensors to capture detailed patterns of urban heat exposure, complementing official monitoring systems. Beyond heat-related data, city-specific campaigns focus on a range of environmental themes. In Dundee, families, students, and community groups assess greenspace quality, accessibility, and use, generating insights that inform inclusive park upgrades and long-term greenspace strategies. In Riga, residents collect air quality data to support targeted greening and mobility-related interventions in traffic-intensive neighbourhoods. Athens and Mannheim focus on participatory tree registries, where citizens and municipal staff jointly document street trees, their condition, ecosystem services, and social value. These registries feed into municipal asset management systems, strengthening tree stewardship, transparency, and urban forestry planning. In Cascais, residents document environmental comfort and public use of parks and greenspaces to inform urban design and adaptation measures, while in Utrecht citizen thermal comfort perceptions and measurements are integrated into municipal planning tools to support cross-departmental decision-making.
Across these diverse contexts, Urban ReLeaf demonstrates how citizen science can generate high-density environmental datasets that add value to official data while strengthening collaboration between communities, researchers, and public authorities. Iterative co-design processes foster trust, shared ownership of data, and pathways for sustained institutional use. At the same time, the pilots show that differences in data applicability, uptake, and institutional integration can vary across domains and urban contexts.
In this presentation, we introduce the Urban ReLeaf project as a cross-city case study showing how citizen science can connect environmental research with urban planning and decision-making. Drawing on pilot activities in six European cities, we present co-designed approaches that combine participatory methods and digital tools. We highlight selected city campaigns focused on greenspace perceptions, air quality monitoring, and participatory tree registries driving integration of citizen observations into municipal planning tools, illustrating how locally tailored citizen science activities can complement official data and inform concrete urban actions.
How to cite: Harwell, T., Hager, G., Moorthy, I., Christantoni, I., Coelho, B., Dörre, J., Gāgane, N., Hartley-Zels, J., Hunia, A., Skudra, S., Tsakanika, D., and van Leeuwen, E.: Citizen Science Pathways to Climate-Resilient and Inclusive Cities in Urban ReLeaf, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18792, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18792, 2026.
The occurrence of frugivorous bird species is strongly associated with the occurrence of fruit tree species in natural environments. However, the presence of a similar relationship in urban areas has not been explored. In this study, we used citizen science and field data to test for the existence of this relationship in 24 urban parks in Beijing, China. We compared the species richness and species composition of the two groups after accounting for park area, differences in diet among bird species, and differences in phenology between the two groups. We also constructed an interaction network between frugivorous bird and fruit tree species to evaluate the importance of each fruit tree species. Our results showed a significant positive relationship between the species richness of frugivorous birds and fruit trees. This relationship was significant year-long except during the summer for 133 bird-tree pairs. Park areas did not significantly affect the relationship. However, we found the interaction effect of the park area and the richness of fruit tree species mediated the relationship in certain months. We did not detect significant relationships in species composition between frugivorous birds and fruit trees. Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), Chinese Juniper (Sabina chinensis), and Oriental persimmon (Diospyros kaki) played a central role in the network of frugivorous bird and fruit tree species. Our results provide evidence for crosstrophic interactions between frugivorous bird species and fruit tree species, justifying planting fruit trees to enhance bird diversity and resilience in urban areas. However, this objective should focus on maximizing fruit production by planting key fruit tree species rather than increasing the total number of fruit tree species.
How to cite: Liu, X., Yang, X., Li, X., and Yang, J.: Exploring the relationship between frugivorous birds and fruit trees in urban parks using citizen science data, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3781, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3781, 2026.
As climate change impacts intensify across Europe and globally, societies are confronted with increasingly frequent and severe hazards that challenge public health, urban livability, and environmental sustainability. While adaptation measures are urgently needed to cope with current and near-term climate risks, it is becoming increasingly evident that mitigation efforts are essential to ensure a resilient and sustainable future. Too often, however, adaptation and mitigation strategies are planned and implemented in isolation, within sectoral silos, overlooking their potential interdependencies, synergies, and co-benefits. This contribution draws on the on-going experience and perspectives of the EU-funded healthRiskADAPT project, which addresses climate-related health risks by explicitly linking adaptation and mitigation pathways across multiple hazards.
The project adopts a broad and integrated perspective that combines existing technical solutions, nature-based interventions, and engagement strategies, with a strong emphasis on co-benefits for health and well-being in the face of climate hazards namely heatwaves, air pollution including wildfire emission, and pollen. Central to this framework is the use of cost–benefit and co-benefit analyses to support decision-makers in identifying, prioritizing, and implementing measures that maximize societal resilience while delivering climate resilience solutions, considering natural based solutions (e.g., greening) as well as technical solutions (e.g., smart-buildings, do-it-yourself air purifier devices, evaporative cooling, high efficiency filtering). Beyond technical assessments, the healthRiskADAPT project recognizes that increasing resilience requires engagement beyond institutional actors. Social solutions such as education, awareness-raising, and capacity building at the stakeholder level are considered essential components of effective climate strategies. The contribution therefore also explores participatory formats and stakeholder engagement approaches designed to enhance understanding of climate-related health risks and support the co-design of locally relevant policies and interventions.
By presenting the project’s methodological pathways, tools, and engagement strategies, this contribution illustrates how integrated adaptation–mitigation planning can be operationalized in practice. It highlights the value of moving beyond sector-specific solutions toward systemic approaches that acknowledge complex interdependencies between climate, environment, health, and society. Ultimately, the contribution aims to demonstrate how such integrated frameworks can support cities and regions in developing more coherent, evidence-based, and socially inclusive climate policies, strengthening resilience in the face of a changing climate.
How to cite: Dookie, D. S., Dallo, F., Liu, H.-Y., Wezenberg, S., Jacobs, P., Khoury, E., Marcheggiani, S., Beaumet, J., Leone, M., and Cao, T.-V.: Integrating Technical, Nature-Based, and Social Solutions: A Stakeholder-driven Approach to Climate Adaptation-Mitigation Synergies, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14753, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14753, 2026.
Posters virtual: Wed, 6 May, 14:00–18:00 | vPoster spot 4
EGU26-3947 | Posters virtual | VPS32
Immersive Citizen Engagement for Climate-Resilient Rural–Urban InterfacesWed, 06 May, 14:21–14:24 (CEST) vPoster spot 4
Cities and their surrounding rural areas face growing pressures from climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and social inequalities. Responding to these challenges requires approaches that not only use environmental data, but also actively involve citizens and local actors in understanding problems and shaping solutions. This contribution presents a European multi-country experience that explores how immersive technologies can support citizen participation, shared understanding, and evidence-informed discussion in rural–urban contexts.
A multi-platform Extended Reality (XR) ecosystem was developed, combining mobile Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) head-mounted display applications. These tools were designed to present complex environmental, social, and territorial information through interactive and three-dimensional experiences. Six pilot co-creation laboratories were established in Greece, Spain, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, providing structured spaces where policymakers, citizens, and local stakeholders could jointly explore challenges and opportunities at the rural–urban interface. The XR applications were validated through hands-on workshops and semi-structured interviews, allowing participants to interact with the content and provide direct feedback.
The immersive experiences addressed six thematic domains known to support bi-directional rural–urban synergies and the development of well-being economies: (i) circular bioeconomy, (ii) ecosystem and biodiversity restoration, (iii) improved logistics and shorter value chains, (iv) user engagement, empowerment, and territorial awareness, (v) culture, landscape, and heritage access and promotion, and (vi) enhanced mobility. By visualizing these topics in three dimensions, participants were able to better understand connections, trade-offs, and future options that are often difficult to grasp through conventional maps or reports.
The evaluation followed a structured user-engagement methodology, integrating pre- and post-experience questionnaires directly into the AR and MR applications. This enabled the collection of comparable qualitative and quantitative feedback across all pilot sites. Results show strong educational and communicative value, with 81% of participants reporting perceived learning gains and overall usability rated at 68%.
Overall, the findings demonstrate how immersive technologies can complement citizen science approaches by strengthening inclusion, supporting dialogue between experts and non-experts, and improving environmental literacy. The approach shows clear potential to support participatory planning and climate adaptation efforts in rural–urban areas, contributing to more inclusive and informed decision-making for resilient and sustainable territories.
Acknowledgement:
This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under RURBANIVE project (Grant Agreement No. 101136597) (RUral-uRBAN synergies emerged in an immersIVE innovation ecosystem).
How to cite: Naskou, K., Katika, T., Touramanis, A., Koukoudis, K., and Amditis, A.: Immersive Citizen Engagement for Climate-Resilient Rural–Urban Interfaces, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-3947, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-3947, 2026.
EGU26-18217 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS32
Gaps, Challenges, and Priorities for Future Adaptation of Heat Action Plans in IndiaWed, 06 May, 14:24–14:27 (CEST) vPoster spot 4
The rising temperatures and intensification of global heat hazards have evolved beyond occasional or seasonal heatwaves into a frequent state of chronic heat stress, amplifying both the duration and impact of extreme heat events. Driven by rising temperatures, humidity, rapid industrialization, and urbanization, the South Asian region, specifically India, faces escalating vulnerability to this compound hazard, which threatens public health, livelihoods, economic productivity, ecosystem balance, and overall quality of life.
India’s institutional response began with Ahmedabad’s pioneering 2013 Heat Action Plan (HAP), which catalysed the adoption of city- and state-level HAPs nationwide. To understand this evolution, 'content analysis' was conducted for 40 Heat Action Plans of 17 Indian states, available officially and publicly, founded against the National Disaster Management Authority’s (NDMA) 2019 guidelines and a global standards study from the WHO and UNDRR. The 23 heatwave-prone states were identified since 2013, only 18 currently have an official HAP.
This review evaluates document structure, its regional contextualization, accessibility to data, and institutional framework. While the NDMA’s (2019) heatwave framework has enabled widespread adoption, it is heatwave-centric and would benefit from explicitly incorporating heat stress through a nationally identified temperature–humidity index, as experimentally presented by IMD in 2023. Although the NOAA Heat Index is frequently cited in HAP documents, it is not suited to Indian conditions, as it does not reliably capture the extreme temperature–humidity regimes prevalent across the country. Furthermore, less than 50% of HAPs include localized vulnerability assessments, which should ideally contextualize physiological and social intricacies, regionally.
Additionally funding ambiguity is another persistent challenge, with most plans lacking identified financial sources or budgetary commitments. Communication gaps are evident, as less than 10% of HAPs provide materials in regional languages, constraining access to vulnerable populations in terms of educational limitation. Although, Ahmedabad’s evolving model remains the most comprehensive in this context. Notably, over 35% of HAPs fail to address land-use land-cover change, urban development plans, or localized climate-resilient design, despite strong links between the built environment and rising heat exposure. Data limitations, fragmented institutional accountability, and the lack of regional context with multi-sector actionability further weaken adaptive governance.
Altogether, these findings highlight the urgent need to move from fragmented, reactive heat responses toward anticipatory, multi-sectoral resilience planning. While the efficacy of HAPs depends on regional contextuality, this diversity must be supported by a replicable national framework guide that acknowledges heat stress while enabling inter-regional comparability. HAPs are primarily action-oriented instruments, this should reflect in the accessibility through local language translations, simplified formats with infographic tools, alongside comprehensive technical format that addresses meteorological services, health surveillance, funding mechanisms, and urban planning and design.
Resilience shouldn’t wait for the next disaster. The global shift toward proactive disaster risk management and the legacy of Ahmedabad’s 2010 heat-related mortality should motivate preparedness over response. Institutionalizing and updating HAPs primarily across all heatwave-prone states followed by the rest is central to embedding preparedness within India’s climate governance and recognizing heat as a structural climate–development challenge, rather than a seasonal hazard.
How to cite: Deshpande, S. and Mukherjee, M.: Gaps, Challenges, and Priorities for Future Adaptation of Heat Action Plans in India, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18217, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18217, 2026.
EGU26-5739 | ECS | Posters virtual | VPS32
An Indicator Service Framework for assessing and integrating climate adaptation–mitigation interdependencies across spatial scalesWed, 06 May, 14:27–14:30 (CEST) vPoster spot 4
As climate change impacts intensify, cities and regions are increasingly required to address adaptation and mitigation in parallel. In practice, however, these two dimensions are often planned and implemented separately, leading to missed co-benefits or unintended trade-offs. Thus, there is a growing need for traceable and operational methods capable of revealing, assessing, and integrating the interdependencies between adaptation and mitigation across sectors and spatial scales. To address this gap, this paper introduces the Indicator Service Framework (ISF), produced in the context of the ClimEmpower project (EU Horizon 2020) This methodological approach translates climate indicators into actionable insights, bridging the two fields of study to improve spatial analysis and local-to-regional decision-making.
The ISF operationalizes climate science by translating robust climate indicators into actionable policy insights. Its design is deliberately anchored in three core principles: multi-scale applicability, ensuring relevance from local to regional levels; data-agnostic design, allowing compatibility with any data source derived from hazard, exposure, and vulnerability assessments; and explicitness of decision logic. A central element of the ISF is the focus on identifying the most appropriate indicators for specific policy objectives, clearly establishing their relationship to the underlying climate risks and local conditions.
The framework employs a streamlined two-step process: first, indicator values are rigorously classified according to their scientific meaning,or against a defined benchmark (e.g., a European average or median value), which subsequently establishes the threshold for policy recommendations; second, they are standardized into harmonized classes. This standardization is crucial, as it enables systematic comparability across regions and facilitates the mapping of results to tailored recommendations. This mechanism is key to identifying concrete opportunities for co-benefits, such as mobility policies that simultaneously reduce emissions and enhance urban thermal comfort.
By structuring a clear pathway from climate data to policy decisions, the ISF functions as more than just a tool; it provides a clear strategic "reading frame" upon which climate actions can be anchored. This approach ensures that the resulting recommendations are systematically adapted to foster the overarching objective of 'climate resilient development' (IPCC 2022). The framework offers a practical contribution to integrated climate governance, enhancing stakeholder awareness and supporting more coherent, resilient, and sustainable strategies under conditions of multi-sectoral complexity.
How to cite: Murano, I., D'Angelo, G., Pavone, V., Del Prete, P., and Zuccaro, G.: An Indicator Service Framework for assessing and integrating climate adaptation–mitigation interdependencies across spatial scales, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-5739, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-5739, 2026.
