Urban ReLeaf delivers citizen-powered data ecosystems to support cross-sectoral innovation and political agenda setting for climate change adaptation and green infrastructure planning in urban environments.
As cities face escalating interlinked challenges, including air pollution, heat stress, and unequal access to greenspace, there is an urgent need for data-driven, community-led solutions. The Urban ReLeaf project unites public authorities and local communities to bridge data gaps, promote urban greening, and drive policy innovation. By integrating citizen observations into authoritative data streams, Urban ReLeaf ensures that community engagement drives meaningful, lasting change at the city level.
© Urban ReLeaf
The project supports key policy frameworks including the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the Green City Accord, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Urban ReLeaf is also featured in the 2023 report "The New European Bauhaus at the Local and Regional Level", emphasizing its commitment to sustainability, inclusion, and participatory governance.
Collected data is feed into Copernicus and the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), actively strengthening EU and global environmental monitoring mechanisms. Hence, the project moves beyond awareness-raising to embed citizen-driven observations into data-driven decision-making and political agenda setting.
Furthermore, the project collaborated with Hot Poets International to create a poem which premiered at UNFCCC COP 28, telling the story of Urban ReLeaf in the future.
Urban ReLeaf helps to redefine how cities engage with communities, data, and policy, driving climate resilience, inclusivity, and urban transformation by bringing citizen science, digital innovation, and participatory governance together. With its scalable model, Urban ReLeaf is not just supporting cities today—it is building a participation blueprint for greener, more sustainable cities in the future.
In the 2024 campaigns, more than 2000 citizens were actively engaged in sharing observations, collecting data as well as participating in data reflections. We anticipate another minimum 2000 citizens engaged in the 2025/2026 campaigns and adjacent activities (e.g., culture and community pop-up labs).
Recent news can be found on the Urban ReLeaf official project website.
Project Partners:
- International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (coordinator)
- Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- Institute of Communication and Computer Systems
- CIBOS Innovation Idiotiki Kefalaiouchiki Etaireia
- ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH
- University of Dundee
- Ethniko Asteroskopeio Athinon
- Collecte Localisation Satellites
- Dimos Athinaion Epicheirisi Michanografisis
- Dundee City Council
- Gemeente Utrecht
- Provincie Utrecht
- Empresa Municipal de Ambientede Cascais
- Stadt Mannheim
- Riga Planosanas Regions
© Urban ReLeaf
Urban ReLeaf has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No.101086638. UK participants in the Urban ReLeaf project are supported by United Kingdom Research and Innovation (“UKRI”) Innovate UK under grant agreements 10061290 and 10041792.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
News
03 April 2025
Celebrating Research on Health at IIASA; World Health Day 2025
Researchers at IIASA are studying the direct and indirect effects of climate change on health, shedding light on healthy aging drivers and metrics and analyzing interconnections between the components of multi-dimensional national well-being.
08 December 2023
Urban ReLeaf at COP28
A poem on the Horizon Europe Urban ReLeaf project will be performed at COP28’s United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Resilience Frontiers Pavilion. Liv Torc of Hot Poets International will take participants on an evocative journey through the project’s six European pilot cities, illustrating the project’s aim of creating just and green urban transitions.
25 January 2023
Driving inclusive and green urban transitions
A new Horizon Europe project led by IIASA called Urban ReLeaf leverages citizen science for public sector innovation.
Events
Vilnius, Lithuania
Cities Mission Conference
Dresden, Germany