The City of Granollers (Spain), located in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, has an area of 15 km2 and 60,981 inhabitants. Granollers’ economy is based on industrial and commercial sectors but it conserves agricultural lands and an agroforestry landscape.
Past interventions, which were uncontrolled or poorly planned led to the degradation of the city’s river basins and Mediterranean forests. Different isolated restoration projects that have been carried out in these natural areas in recent decades, were not sufficient to restore and maintain the ecological and landscape connectivity. A more comprehensive programme of green infrastructure is needed to promote and implement an urban design more inclusive of nature.
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This case study was delivered as part of INTERLACE: an EU-funded project to strengthen urban ecosystem restoration in the European Union and Latin America.
Through its participation in INTERLACE, Granollers sought to gain new knowledge and skills that will help the city realise its ambition of achieving complete urban natural restoration that includes a network of multifunctional green areas, both rural and urban, and contributes to a sustainable community and biodiversity conservation. The city aimed to exchange experiences and good practices with other cities in the EU and CELAC regions, raise awareness and engage local citizens with the topic of urban ecosystem restoration.
Key aims:
- Green transformation through large-scale NbS actions that connect the river with the city
- Co-designing rewilding actions with the involvement, support and acceptance of local communities
- Raising awareness of NbS through education and engagement
Through the INTERLACE project, Granollers has made measurable progress in green transformation, using large-scale NbS actions that connect the river with the city, through the renaturation of the riverbed, fluvial parks and urban areas. INTERLACE has supported participatory processes around these activities with the aim of co-designing some of the city rewilding actions, especially prioritization of urban green transformation criteria in the restoration of the Congost River, undertaken in a co-creative process with local communities.
Under the Citizen Engagement program, diverse activities catering to the interests and educational needs of local citizens, particularly young people, were conducted. The Citizen Engagement program was aimed at a varied audience and included an extensive agenda of activities. These included learning tours with universities about degraded ecosystem restoration or the Programa Divulga with Celestí Bellera Secondary School, featuring immersive field visits and a digital gaming activity fostering collaborative NbS co-design. Additionally, workshops on environmental communication and culinary showcases promoting local products were organized, alongside events like the "Can Gili Forest Stewardship" Plantation event, all aimed at enhancing environmental awareness and sustainability under the framework of nature-based solutions within the community. Arts program activities have also been carried out, such as the HIDROsfera community research project.
Some example of engagement activities are summarised below:
Programa Divulga with Celestí Bellera Secondary School (2023). An extensive action program delving into the intricate nuances of the River Congost. This initiative comprised conferences by local authorities, immersive field visits, river monitoring, school reports, culminating in a captivating outdoor exhibition during the spring of 2023. As an innovative addition, a digital gaming activity was integrated into the program, fostering collaborative NbS co-design using the Minecraft video game.
Learning tours on restoration and management through NbS. Numerous guided tours and visits with students from High School Rubió Tudurí, UPC Barcelona Tech University, Celestí Bellera secondary school, University of Huascaran (Peru), Polytechnical University of Catalonia, Barcelona University and Rubió Tudurí Institute.
Workshop on Environmental Communication (2023). A workshop tailored for municipalities, river basin authorities and journalists aimed to enhance communication strategies and to promote a more profound understanding of environmental issues.
Can Gili Forest Stewardship Plantation Event (2023). This event at Can Gili aimed to enhance ecological awareness and responsibility among the participants, contributing to the greening of the community.
HIDROSfera of Granollers arts project (2024). A “water memory” of Granollers, where the three spheres of water are worked on: the basin, the aquifer and the river. The project was led by artists and the municipal departments of Culture and Environment. Community-led water maps and hydrographs were created through artistic workshops, citizen interviews and walks/talks.
The INTERLACE Granollers project has been successful in orchestrating a dynamic array of activities that have fostered community involvement and environmental consciousness around NbS. The city had made progress with its green transformation, including the prioritization of nature-based solutions in the restoration of the Congost River, undertaken in a co-creative process to achieve a free-flowing urban river with the involvement and support of local communities. The project has formulated criteria for river restoration initiatives through consultation with INTERLACE partners in the EU and CELAC regions. Based on these works, the outcomes of the project have been integrated into local projects and will inform future ecosystems restoration in the city.
Key impacts include:
- Public engagement in co-producing and promoting ownership of nature-based solutions
- Increased capacity of local government to implement integrated and ecologically coherent urban planning and governance approaches
- Raised awareness and understanding of the benefits of healthy (peri)urban ecosystems for social, cultural and economic wellbeing
- Strengthened cooperation between European and CELAC communities of practice on (peri)urban ecological restoration and rehabilitation
- Participation in European and CELAC city and regional networks to inspire and support learning and exchange on restorative NBS
Most if not all of the methods used in Granollers are transferrable to other cities working on the topics of river restoration, renaturation, rewilding and urban greening.
- Working with diverse stakeholders adds tangible benefits to the design and implementation of nature-based solutions in terms of ideation and planning, and notably in terms of ownership.
- Innovative approaches to engagement not only benefit education and understanding, but also empower communities to actively participate in shaping sustainable urban futures. These approaches have helped to foster a stronger connection between people, places and nature - and their interdependencies.
- Art and gamification have proven to be powerful tools for working with young people. The quality of ideas from young people has been exceptional, varying with age but consistently innovative and imaginative.
- Significant value can be gained from EU-CELAC collaboration in responding to the common challenges of river restoration and renaturation. Many of the governance instruments and public engagement methods are transferrable or otherwise easily adapted between regions.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 869324.