URBAN SWARM

Urban transformations for small-scale, circular, and resilient nature-based solutions: sustainable water, waste, and biodiversity management.

Project information

Driving Urban Transitions (DUT), Programa Horizon Europe, CDTI y AEI (España)

Work areas

  • Adaptation to climate change and urban resilience
  • Circular resource management and biodiversity
  • Technological innovation for planning and monitoring
  • Inclusive participation of vulnerable communities in urban governance

In collaboration with

AUAS, HOGENT, UA, Municipality of Sint-Niklaas, SBE, ICA, IMDEA, NTUA, METROPOLIA, EUMAHS, Waternet, Cittaideale, PTTvT / Katapult, Borboom van Beurden Judith Anna Maria, DEA, Elliniko Anelixis SA / ELAN, Blikveld vzw

Status

Ends in November 2028

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Problem to solve

European cities face increasingly intense climatic and social pressures, such as extreme weather events (floods, heat waves), water stress, biodiversity loss and an increase in construction and demolition waste generation. Furthermore, current urban infrastructure tends to be reactive and rigid, and the Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) that are applied are often fragmented, lacking systemic integration and ownership by the local community. At the same time, many urban spaces, such as vacant lots or paved surfaces, remain underutilised.

Solution

UrbanSWARM proposes a paradigm shift through ‘Swarm Planning’: instead of large, isolated interventions, it deploys multiple small-scale, modular and connected SbNs in underused locations which, together, generate a systemic and high-impact transformation in the city, promoting biodiversity, climate adaptation, the circular economy and inclusion. Applying Swarm Planning and community participation, it identifies strategic points for scalable interventions, integrating mapping, sensors and social data. The project develops strategies in water, material reuse and biodiversity, strengthening local capacities, generating multifunctional public spaces and aligning actions with European sustainability policies.

Within this ecosystem, Icatalist focuses its participation on the national pilot of the Urban Living Lab in l’Horta Sud, leading assessments with remote sensing and artificial intelligence and coordinating the development of a Dynamic Digital Model for scenario planning and decision-making support. At the international level, Icatalist leads work package 1 and contributes to work packages 3 and 4, providing strategic policy analysis, foresight methodologies and data-driven tools to ensure the implementation, scalability and replicability of nature-based solutions.

Specific measures

  • Development of a database on climate risks in l’Horta Sur using drones with LiDAR and multispectral sensors
  • Geospatial mapping, on-site data collection, and coordination and co-development to design a platform with a 3D urban model in the cloud (Digital Twin) that merges environmental, spatial, and social data from different European pilots
  • Coordination of the Urban Living Lab to identify projects, policies, and promote knowledge exchange with international ULLs.

Services offered:

  • Operational and calibrated drone systems for collecting high-quality urban data, ensuring accuracy for 3D modelling.
  • A dynamic database that integrates standardised urban data from local sources and drone missions, ready to feed into 3D models.
  • A functional platform that provides a comprehensive 3D representation of urban spaces with accessible visualisation tools.
  • A coordinated and collaborative ULL, with internationally established knowledge-sharing networks and support tools for policy-making in urban planning, validated and endorsed by key local and international actors.

Problem to solve

European cities face increasingly intense climatic and social pressures, such as extreme weather events (floods, heat waves), water stress, biodiversity loss and an increase in construction and demolition waste generation. Furthermore, current urban infrastructure tends to be reactive and rigid, and the Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) that are applied are often fragmented, lacking systemic integration and ownership by the local community. At the same time, many urban spaces, such as vacant lots or paved surfaces, remain underutilised.

Solution

UrbanSWARM proposes a paradigm shift through ‘Swarm Planning’: instead of large, isolated interventions, it deploys multiple small-scale, modular and connected SbNs in underused locations which, together, generate a systemic and high-impact transformation in the city, promoting biodiversity, climate adaptation, the circular economy and inclusion. Applying Swarm Planning and community participation, it identifies strategic points for scalable interventions, integrating mapping, sensors and social data. The project develops strategies in water, material reuse and biodiversity, strengthening local capacities, generating multifunctional public spaces and aligning actions with European sustainability policies.

Within this ecosystem, Icatalist focuses its participation on the national pilot of the Urban Living Lab in l’Horta Sud, region of the Valencian Community in Spain, leading assessments with remote sensing and artificial intelligence and coordinating the development of a Dynamic Digital Model for scenario planning and decision-making support. At the international level, Icatalist leads work package 1 and contributes to work packages 3 and 4, providing strategic policy analysis, foresight methodologies and data-driven tools to ensure the implementation, scalability and replicability of nature-based solutions.

Project information

Driving Urban Transitions (DUT), Programa Horizon Europe, CDTI y AEI (España)

Work areas

  • Adaptation to climate change and urban resilience
  • Circular resource management and biodiversity
  • Technological innovation for planning and monitoring
  • Inclusive participation of vulnerable communities in urban governance

In collaboration with

AUAS, HOGENT, UA, Municipality of Sint-Niklaas, SBE, ICA, IMDEA, NTUA, METROPOLIA, EUMAHS, Waternet, Cittaideale, PTTvT / Katapult, Borboom van Beurden Judith Anna Maria, DEA, Elliniko Anelixis SA / ELAN, Blikveld vzw

Status

Ends in November 2028

Concrete measures

  • Development of a database on climate risks in l’Horta Sud using drones with LiDAR and multispectral sensors
  • Geospatial mapping, on-site data collection, and coordination and co-development to design a platform with a 3D urban model in the cloud (Digital Twin) that merges environmental, spatial, and social data from different European pilots.
  • Coordination of the Urban Living Lab to identify projects, policies, and promote knowledge exchange with international ULLs.

This work has been supported by the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership, co-financed under the EU´s Horizon Europe programme and by the national funding agencies CDTI and AEI (Spain), Regieorgaan SIA (Netherlands), VLAIO and FWO (Belgium), and GSRI (Greece).

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