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The VARCITIES Pilot site in Castelfranco Veneto, the Villa Revedin Bolasco and its garden, played host to the Helix event, “Unlocking the Power of Nature-Based Innovation,” organized by VARCITIES partners CrowdHelix and the Municipality of Castelfranco Veneto, with the support if E2ARC, Inlecom Commercial Pathways, Darttek, IES and University of Padova.

The event gathered experts, officials, and innovators to explore and discuss the transformative potential of nature-based solutions (NbS) for urban health and wellbeing.

The event kicked off with a warm welcome from Gianfranco Giovine, Councillor for Tourism, University Relations, Research, and Innovation, alongside Stefano Marcon, Mayor of Castelfranco Veneto. Our Pilot city highlighted the collaborative efforts with the University of Padova Unismart and EURAC to deliver VARCITIES’ Italian pilot. They announced an upcoming innovation and research event in October, “Vision Garden” to showcase projects, technologies and innovation – including VARCITIES – with the support of Universities and SMEs. Francesco Pirotti from the University of Padova emphasized the importance of practical applications of scientific research in maintaining the 500-year-old historical villa and gardens for public and scientific use.

They first day was dedicated to presentation and discussions around VARCITIES’ approach, its supported interventions and its exploitable results.

Denia Kolokotsa, VARCITIES coordinator from the Technical University of Crete introduced the project’s goals of enhancing urban health and wellbeing across Europe using nature-based solutions. She outlined the different phases of VARCITIES, from co-creation to implementation, and highlighted the involvement of seven pilot cities.

Our Eleni Goni of E2ARC presented the implementation of the 28 Visionary Solutions (VS) supported by VARCITIES in the seven pilot cities and the ongoing assessment of their replication potential. Francesco Pirotti specifically detailed Castelfranco’s VS and their innovative components, such as mapping comfort through a digital twin of the park and real-time data collection from environmental sensors.

Koldo Urrutia Azcona from IES Integrated Environmental Solutions showcased VARCITIES Health & Well-Being Platform, our digital twin platform, which provides a 3D immersive experience incorporating NbS and urban context. Neil Baldacchino of Darttek introduced the GoNature AR, an augmented reality experience to visualize air quality and noise data interactively.

Read the rest at this link.