VISIONARY NATURE BASED ACTIONS FOR HEALTH, WELLBEING & RESILIENCE IN CITIES (VARCITIES)

Project Information

VARCITIES

Grant agreement ID: 869505

DOI

10.3030/869505

Project closed

EC signature date 23 April 2020

Start date 1 September 2020

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Climate action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials

Total cost

€ 10 954 903,55

EU contribution

€ 10 115 469,00

Coordinated by

POLYTECHNEIO KRITIS
Greece

CORDIS provides links to public deliverables and publications of HORIZON projects.

Links to deliverables and publications from FP7 projects, as well as links to some specific result types such as dataset and software, are dynamically retrieved from OpenAIRE .

Deliverables

Documents, reports (7)

Report on local barriers and drivers to the implementation of visionary solutions in pilots
Policy Report
Guidelines for sketching of solutions
Healthy Cities Helix
Common Action Plan on clustering activities
Reports on multiple benefits expected from visionary solutions
Reports on the sketched solutions

Demonstrators, pilots, prototypes (1)

Project website and social media accounts

Open Research Data Pilot (1)

VARCITIES H&WB platform final- live data

VARCITIES HWB platform final live data

Publications

Peer reviewed articles (13)

Visionary Nature-Based Solutions Evaluated through Social Return on Investment: The Case Study of an Italian Urban Green Space

Author(s): Elisa-Elena Vasiliu, Sara Torabi Moghadam, Adriano Bisello, Patrizia Lombardi
Published in: Smart Cities, Issue 7, 2025, Page(s) 946-972, ISSN 2624-6511
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/smartcities7020040

A health relevant approach for assessing urban green spaces

Author(s): Aikaterini Lilli, Elisavet Tsekeri, Dionysia Kolokotsa
Published in: Discover Cities, Issue 1, 2024, ISSN 3004-8311
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/s44327-024-00029-z

From instrumentalization to commoning: A critical review of participation in urban nature-based solutions

Author(s): Devyn Remme, Håvard Haarstad
Published in: Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2022, ISSN 2624-9634
Publisher: Frontiers
DOI: 10.3389/frsc.2022.917607

Linking Acoustic Indices to Vegetation and Microclimate in a Historical Urban Garden: Setting the Stage for a Restorative Soundscape

Author(s): Alessia Portaccio, Francesco Chianucci, Francesco Pirotti, Marco Piragnolo, Marco Sozzi, Andrea Zangrossi, Miriam Celli, Marta Mazzella di Bosco, Monica Bolognesi, Enrico Sella, Maurizio Corbetta, Francesca Pazzaglia, Raffaele Cavalli
Published in: Land, Issue 14, 2025, Page(s) 1970, ISSN 2073-445X
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/land14101970

Digitally Mediated Nature: Assessing the Role of Digital Tools in Employing Nature-Based Solutions to Urban Sustainability

Author(s): Lene Lundøy Drengenes, Håvard Haarstad
Published in: Journal of Urban Technology, 2025, Page(s) 1-20, ISSN 1063-0732
Publisher: Carfax Publishing Ltd.
DOI: 10.1080/10630732.2025.2539660

Information Technologies for Real-Time Mapping of Human Well-Being Indicators in an Urban Historical Garden

Author(s): Francesco Pirotti, Marco Piragnolo, Marika D’Agostini and Raffaele Cavalli
Published in: Future Internet 14, 280, 2022, ISSN 1999-5903
Publisher: MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/fi14100280

VARCITIES pilot characterisation : research findings of the environmental conditions and health-related risks in Gzira

Author(s): Calleja, Kurt; Duca, Edward; Quacinella, Daniela; Suda, David; Caruana, Mark Anthony; Borg, Fabian; Scheiber, Sarah; Micallef, Daniel; Clarke, Emma
Published in: Xjenza Online, Issue 2, 2024, Page(s) 40-61, ISSN 1818-7269
Publisher: Malta Chamber of Scientists
DOI: 10.7423/xjenza.2024.2.04

On the evaluation of quality of life in Chania Crete, Greece

Author(s): Elisavet Tsekeri, Aikaterini Lilli, Tryfon Daras, Dionysia Kolokotsa
Published in: Discover Cities, Issue 2, 2025, ISSN 3004-8311
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
DOI: 10.1007/s44327-024-00038-y

Governance learning from collective actions for just climate adaptation in cities

Author(s): Mahir Yazar, Håvard Haarstad, Lene Lundøy Drengenes, Abigail York
Published in: Frontiers in Sustainable Cities, 2022, ISSN 2624-9634
Publisher: Frontiers
DOI: 10.3389/frsc.2022.932070

The Intersection of the Green and the Smart City: A Data Platform for Health and Well-Being through Nature-Based Solutions

Author(s): Dionysia Kolokotsa, Aikaterini Lilli, Elisavet Tsekeri, Kostas Gobakis, Minas Katsiokalis, Aikaterini Mania, Neil Baldacchino, Sevasti Polychronaki, Niall Buckley, Daniel Micallef, Kurt Calleja, Emma Clarke, Edward Duca, Luka Mali, Adriano Bisello
Published in: Smart Cities, Issue 7, 2025, Page(s) 1-32, ISSN 2624-6511
Publisher: MDPI AG
DOI: 10.3390/smartcities7010001

Air Pollution in the Urban Built Environment: A Comprehensive Evaluation

Author(s): Elisavet Tsekeri, Aikaterini Lilli, Mihalis Lazaridis, Dionysia Kolokotsa
Published in: Atmospheric Pollution Research, 2025, Page(s) 102797, ISSN 1309-1042
Publisher: Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research (TUNCAP)
DOI: 10.1016/j.apr.2025.102797

The influence of individual characteristics on perceived restorativeness and benefits associated with exposure to nature in a garden

Author(s): Enrico Sella; Chiara Meneghetti; Veronica Muffato; Erika Borella; Elena Carbone; Raffaele Cavalli; Francesca Pazzaglia
Published in: Frontiers in psychology, 14, 2023, ISSN 1664-1078
Publisher: Frontiers Research Foundation
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1130915

Participatory Digital Solutions for Nature-Based Solution Urban Projects: A Systematic PRISMA Literature Review

Author(s): Sara Biancifiori, Sara Torabi Moghadam, Patrizia Lombardi
Published in: Sustainability, Issue 17, 2025, Page(s) 7945, ISSN 2071-1050
Publisher: MDPI Open Access Publishing
DOI: 10.3390/su17177945

Conference proceedings (6)

GoNature AR: Air Quality & Noise Visualization Through a Multimodal and Interactive Augmented Reality Experience

Author(s): Minas Katsiokalis, Elisavet Tsekeri, Aikaterini Lilli, Konstantinos Gobakis, Dionysia Kolokotsa, Katerina Mania
Published in: IMX '23: Proceedings of the 2023 ACM International Conference on Interactive Media Experiences, 2023, Page(s) 366–369
Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery
DOI: 10.1145/3573381.3597229

On the integration of nature-based solutions with digital innovation for health and wellbeing in cities

Author(s): E. Tsekeri, A. Lilli, M. Katsiokalis, K. Gobakis, A. Mania and D. Kolokotsa
Published in: 7th International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech), 2022
Publisher: International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies (SpliTech)
DOI: 10.23919/splitech55088.2022.9854269

Analysis of Geospatial Behaviour of Visitors of Urban Gardens: Is Positioning via Smartphones a Valid Solution?

Author(s): Francesco Pirotti; Marco Piragnolo; Alberto Guarnieri; Marco Boscaro; Raffaele Cavalli
Published in: Communications in Computer and Information Science, Issue vol 1507, 2022
Publisher: Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-94426-1_26

SIMULATING SOLAR RADIATION UNDER CANOPY USING POINT CLOUDS AND AN HEMISPHERICAL PHOTOGRAPHY SIMULATOR

Author(s): Francesco Pirotti, Marco Piragnolo, Raffaele Cavalli
Published in: GIS Ostrava 2022 – Earth Observation for Smart City and Smart Region, 2022
Publisher: GIS Ostrava
DOI: 10.31490/9788024846026-5

The “human community” in the eye of the future cities’ vision. The VARCITIES Project approach

Author(s): Elisavet TSEKERI, School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece Dionysia KOLOKOTSA, School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece Aikaterini LILLI, School of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece Kurt CALLEJA, The Centre for Entrepreneurship and Business Incubation University of Malta, Malta Daniela QUACINELLA, Th
Published in: 2022
Publisher: 57th ISOCARP World Planning Congress
DOI: 10.47472/cyxnhpjx

VARCITIES EU Project: Visionary Nature-Based Actions for Health, Well-Being and Resilience in Cities

Author(s): Sara Van Rompaey, Eleni Goni & Denia Kolokotsa
Published in: Design for Health. UIA 2023, 2023, ISBN 978-3-031-36316-0
Publisher: Springer, Cham
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-36316-0_20

Non-peer reviewed articles (1)

COVID-19′s Pandemic Effects on Bike Sharing Systems: A New Reality for Urban Mobility?

Author(s): Efstathios Bouhouras, Socrates Basbas, Stamatia Ftergioti, Evangelos Paschalidis, Harris Siakantaris
Published in: Applied Sciences, Issue Vol. 12, 2022, annual, 2022, ISSN 2076-3417
Publisher: Applied Sciences
DOI: 10.3390/app12031230

Book chapters (2)

Augmented Nature-Based Solutions: A Possible Taxonomy of Technologies “in” and “for” Urban Greening Strategies

Author(s): Israa Mahmoud, Eugenio Morello, Adriano Bisello, Dionysia Kolokotsa
Published in: Green Energy and Technology, Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions, 2023, Page(s) 125-139
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-39206-1_10

L’esperienza di co-creation ed engagement di VARCITIES a Castelfranco Veneto (TV)

Author(s): Bisello, A., Vasiliu, E.E., D’Alonzo, V.
Published in: Città Biodiverse. Politiche, piani, progetti e processi di co-creazione, 2025, Page(s) 218-219, ISBN 9791222316314
Publisher: Mimesis Edizioni