Espaitec as part of its commitment of being one of the technological partners of the
European UnaLab project, whose main aim is to apply nature-based solutions in the
cities participating in this project to avoid climate change effects, travelled to Prague to
attend the project’s Consortium meeting, held on Wednesday 29 and Thursday 30 May.
The Castellón City Council also attended these meetings as a follower city figure which
must, in the future, replicate the models proposed by the cities that are currently leaders,
whose mission is to set up models that are feasible and effective in their regions.
During these meetings, several ideas were exchanged and debated. These ideas were put
forward to solve problems related to flooding, managing wastewater, building new
landscaping forms and improving air quality, problems that presently affect cities.
Moreover, the methodology followed was revised and worked on, and will eventually
be applied to the cities of Tampere, Genoa and Eindhoven.
This European project has been running since June 2017 and will end in May 2022. It
includes 28 European partners and two international observers. Several types of
materials and guides will be prepared so that all the cities that wish to apply nature-
based solutions will have the basis to do so, which has been previously studied and
tested.
On these dates, co-creation activities were performed and tools were tested like “Living
Labs”, which Espaitec actively participated in. A tour was also organised during which
visits were made to see how solutions have been applied to the city of Prague and on
which the local government is working so that these measures achieve positive effects
to help to improve quality of life and avoid climate change in cities to a greater extent.
Finally, the location where the next UnaLab Project meetings will be held in November
2019 was announced during the General Assembly, which was Castellón in the Espaitec
installations. During this time, the delegations of all the European cities involved in this
project will participate and a tree will be sponsored, among the many other activities to
be scheduled.
