The Spanish city of Barcelona plans to use a combination of digital twins and neuroscience to promote the recovery of a river estuary. Through a project called GreenInCities, Barcelona will use drones, interactive video games and citizen science kits to create a digital twin which will monitor the Besos river and help decision making to revive the waterway.
The lower Besos River is facing significant ecological challenges, and is also used as a source of drinking water for the city.
The project integrates emerging discipline of environmental neuroscience, which studies how green spaces affect mental health, and combines this understanding with nature-based solutions to improve climate resilience, biodiversity, and social wellbeing.
The benefits are not only designed for humans. With several species under threat from the degradation of the river, the project is also targeting benefits for river flora, amphibians, reptiles, small birds, and butterflies.
The project aims to transform the area through nature-based solutions by creating a new observation point and open-air lab and a naturalised area that will function as a climate shelter, prioritising the needs of both human and non-human stakeholders.
This intervention will provide thermal relief during extreme weather events, particularly benefiting vulnerable populations by mitigating heat islands and increasing available shade.
GreenInCities is a European project aligned with the European Green Deal and the New European Bauhaus. This alignment with European policies means that it is not just a local transformation project, but also a replicable model for sustainable urban planning throughout Europe.
Barcelona is joined by four other leader cities in the GreenInCities programme: Prato, Athens, Helsinki and Nova Gorica, and six follower cities, each representing different climate resilience challenges and issues.
The five leader cities have selected the most appropriate tools and methodologies to address their specific challenges, with the focus now shifting to developing the first prototypes and conducting initial trials in real urban environments.
