In this fourth edition of the NBSINFRA newsletter, we continue a journey that has taken us from introducing the project and its five City Labs, to exploring the booklets documenting their work on the ground, and discovering the story maps that weave together data, local knowledge and visual storytelling. This time, we let the cities take centre stage, telling their own stories through the screen.
We are delighted to share a new milestone in our communication journey: five short video clips, one for each of our City Labs, are now available on our YouTube channel. These videos bring to life the stories behind the science: the cities, the risks they face, and the nature-based solutions being tested to strengthen their resilience.
From the canals of Aveiro to the banks of the Rhine in Cologne, from the Danube shores of Ruse to the growing suburbs of Fingal and the rooftops of Prague, each video offers a concise and engaging introduction to what makes each City Lab unique. Together, they capture the diversity of challenges and approaches that define the NBSINFRA project, as well as the shared conviction that nature holds part of the answer to some of our cities’ most pressing vulnerabilities.
We also take this opportunity to highlight the rich collection of audio-visual materials produced by the project. Two webinars organised by UNESCO, respectively in Portugal and Ireland, explored the frontiers of nature-based solutions alongside researchers, practitioners, and local communities. The project presentation video offers an accessible introduction for those new to NBSINFRA.
These resources, and many more, are freely available on our YouTube channel and at NBSINFRA.eu.
Keep following us on LinkedIn and visit our YouTube channel to discover all NBSINFRA videos!
NBSINFRA Project Coordinator
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Discover the NBSIFRA city labs on video
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Extreme weather, ageing infrastructure, and rapid population growth are converging challenges for Fingal. The NBSINFRA video highlights how the City Lab has responded not only with technical solutions, but also through an innovative participatory approach that combines data and digital tools with community voices and citizen deliberation.
At the heart of this process is a co-designed vision for the future of Swords: a green necklace of open spaces, parks, and woodlands surrounding the town. These nature-based measures help contain urban sprawl, encourage more compact and sustainable growth, enhance biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience through natural buffers. The video presents Fingal as a model for inclusive and forward-looking urban adaptation. |
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With a long history of flooding along the Rhine, and climate change now intensifying the risks of flash floods and heat waves, Cologne stands at an important crossroads. The NBSINFRA video introduces the City Lab's layered analytical approach: combining existing spatial data with newly created information layers to investigate nature-based solutions at different stages of implementation.
The City Lab is simultaneously addressing river floods, flash floods, and urban heat islands across the city and its surroundings, demonstrating how targeted, adaptive interventions can reduce the impacts of climate hazards on critical infrastructures. A long-standing city learning to adapt for the future. |
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As the largest Bulgarian city on the Danube, Ruse is a vital hub for transport, logistics, and culture in Northern Bulgaria, but also a city increasingly exposed to flooding and landslides. The NBSINFRA video introduces Ruse's City Lab as a place where rigorous disaster risk assessment is combined with community-driven action.
Following a risk assessment conducted by the Ruse municipality, the project is supporting the identification of tailored mitigation measures while promoting awareness and behavioural change at city level. The video illustrates how NBSINFRA is helping Ruse develop lasting climate resilience grounded in both data and local engagement. |
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Set within the unique landscape of the Ria de Aveiro lagoon system, Aveiro faces growing challenges linked to the combined effects of high tides, storm surges, and intense river flows. The NBSINFRA video takes viewers into the Vilar Stream basin - the main source of freshwater runoff into the city’s canals - and explores its central role in Aveiro’s water management strategy and resilience efforts.
The video showcases the City Lab’s integrated approach: a recovery project developed in close collaboration with local stakeholders, turning flood risk into an opportunity to enhance urban connectivity, promote soft mobility, expand green infrastructure, and strengthen biodiversity. It is the story of a city shaped by water, learning not to resist it, but to live with it. |
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Heavy rains, urban flooding, and summer heatwaves are pressing realities for Prague. The NBSINFRA video takes viewers across three distinct pilot locations where nature-based solutions are being tested under real-world conditions: the Czech Technical University's research centre in Buštěhrad, the CTU campus, and Českobrodská High School.
Green roofs, green facades, urban greenery, and blue infrastructure for water management are all being monitored and evaluated. The video underlines how lessons learned in Prague are designed not only to benefit the city itself, but to inform the replication of effective NBS across other European urban environments. |
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Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or REA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. |
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