ENoLL team was at the Nordic Edge conference & expo, running a workshop within the scope of UNaLab project titled Co-creating smart nature-based liveable spaces – necessary solutions for real life challenges. The workshop which was held on 26th September, was co-organised with ERRIN, Eindhoven, Stavanger Region EU Office and Northern Cities Netherlands. We used the CoCo toolkit methodology, which was developed by ENoLL Member Laurea University and allowed an interactive session for all participants.

The session was opened by Ryan Titley (ERRIN) and Zsuzsanna Bodi (ENoLL) who introduced work of the two networks they are representing. Introduction of Urban Living Labs and Nature-Based Solutions was given by Sami Kazi, UNaLab project coordinator. The two concepts can be unfamiliar to attendees and to fully immerse in the co-creative session, basic concepts have to be well understood. Particularly, Nature Based Solutions (NBS) a concept defined by the European Commission as “solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience” (more on the NBS).

Following UNaLab presentation, we looked into Urban Living Labs and Living Lab services. Three successful Living Lab examples presented their work: the city of Eindhoven, which is also a UNaLab partner developing Nature Based Solutions in the city centre; Gate 21 – a Danish Living Lab host organisation developing Smart City projects in Copenhagen and OULLabs, showing us how Living Labs can provide a wide range of services to companies.

As the audience warmed up to the idea of Urban Living Labs and Nature Based Solutions, the co-creative part of the session began. Four tables were tackling four different challenges, that have been put forward by different European cities.

• Stavanger city council proposed a topic on Problematic surface water from extreme rain events
• City of Leeuwarden, Netherlands faces the problem of Imbalance between biodiversity, agriculture and economic profitability
• SnailMob from Geneva, Switzerland tackles the problem of Traffic congestions prevent daily last-mile commuting in city-centers (see the video by SnailMob representatives explaining the challenge)
• City of Tampere, Finland proposed a challenge on Densification of Nordic cities challenges multi-functionality of small spaces

Workshop participants chose the challenge they wanted to work on based on their interests in the diverse topics proposed. Each table had a table facilitator steering the discussion, while the whole session was facilitated by Antti Kytö (Larea University) and Ines Vaittinen (ENoLL). Results from the workshops will be published on the UNaLAB website.