From Co-Creation to Co-Ownership: Meaningful Engagement in Urban Greening and Climate Resilience
17. June 13:30 - 15:15
Plenary Area
Cities are at the forefront of addressing the climate crisis, with nature-based solutions (NbS) enhancing urban resilience and liveability. Increasingly, their success depends not only on technical design but on the quality, inclusiveness, and continuity of stakeholder engagement. While participatory approaches are common, they often remain fragmented, short term, or symbolic, limiting their transformative potential.
This workshop responds to a critical gap: the need to move beyond consultation and co-creation towards sustained co-ownership of urban interventions. Too often, engagement is confined to isolated phases, involves the same groups, or excludes underrepresented voices, leading to participation silos, consultation fatigue, and distrust. Cities must also navigate resistance and complex expectations.
The session explores how cities can design more inclusive, adaptive, and durable participation, enabling diverse stakeholders to shape and stay involved in the lifecycle of NbS, from visioning to long-term stewardship. At its core is a game-inspired interactive activity based on real city cases, designed to discuss equitable participation, and meaningful and sustained engagement.
By connecting real-world examples with hands-on practice, the workshop equips participants with practical insights to move beyond one-off participation towards genuine co-ownership of NbS.
Speakers
Coordinator / Senior Researcher, Citizen Science Lab, Leiden University
Margaret Gold, Coordinator / Senior Researcher, Citizen Science Lab, Leiden University
Margaret Gold runs the Citizen Science at Leiden University, which collaborates with local societal initiatives, residents, and the municipality of Leiden in participatory research on issues related to a healthy urban living environment.
Policy Officer, City of The Hague
Sander Brinkman, Policy Officer, City of The Hague
Sander Brinkman is a climatologist, currently working on greening the city. Climate adaptation, rewilding and participation are his strongpoints.
Project Manager Urban Resilience Department, City of Milan
Simone Nardicchia, Project Manager Urban Resilience Department, City of Milan
Simone Nardicchia is a project manager at the Urban Resilience Department of the City of Milano, working on European projects that support climate adaptation, urban regeneration and local resilience. He has an academic background in International Cooperation, with a focus on development, human rights and environmental challenges, and has built his professional experience across NGOs, public authorities and private organisations involved in EU-funded programmes. His work combines project coordination, stakeholder engagement and participatory processes, with particular attention to translating strategies into actions at city and neighbourhood level. He currently coordinates Milan’s activities within Commit2Green (C2G), a Horizon Europe project promoting participatory urban greening and renaturing through nature-based solutions and community involvement.
Senior researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology - Autonomous University of Barcelona
Dr. Sara Maestre AndrÉs, Senior researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology - Autonomous University of Barcelona
Sara Maestre Andrés is a socio-environmental researcher at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB, Spain). Her research is focused on human-nature relationships and the governance of biodiversity conservation and climate change adaptation and mitigation through the design and evaluation of strategies, policy instruments, and processes that promote resilient, just, and livable territories. She is further interested on transitions and transformative change, with a specific focus on the role of social innovations. She holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB, 2016), a MSc in Ecological Economics and Environmental Management (ICTA-UAB, 2011), and a BSc in Environmental Sciences (UAB, 2010).
Head of EU Projects, IAAC
Dr. Chiara Farinea, Head of EU Projects, IAAC
Chiara Farinea is an Italian architect and urban planner. She holds a PhD in Urban Planning from IUAV (Venice), a Master in Advanced Architecture from IAAC (Barcelona), and an architecture degree from Politecnico di Milano. She also studied at ETSAB (Barcelona) through the Erasmus Programme and has been a member of the Association of Architects of Genova for over ten years.
Chiara’s research focuses on environmental planning and design. She is currently Head of European Projects at IAAC’s Advanced Architecture Group, coordinating several EU-funded projects related to education, research, and sustainable development. She also serves as faculty in IAAC’s educational programs.
Previously, she was a professor of Urban Planning at the Faculty of Architecture of Genoa.
Moderators
Senior Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Selene Angelone, Senior Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Selene, an architect and urban planner, brings 14 years of experience spanning the private sector and international cooperation. Holding an MSc in Architecture, she began her career as a designer in Italy, also gaining insights into post-disaster recovery. Transitioning to Panama in 2014, she expanded her expertise in overseeing architectural and construction projects holistically.
Driven by a passion for the social aspect of architecture, Selene pursued a postgraduate degree in 'Emergency & Resilience', shaping her focus on urban resilience and climate adaptation in the sub-Saharan African context during her five-year tenure at UN-Habitat. In November 2023, she embarked on a new journey, joining ICLEI Europe as a Senior Expert in Resilience and Climate Adaptation, solidifying her commitment to sustainable development.
Junior Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Lucía D'Amore, Junior Expert, Resilience and Climate Adaptation, ICLEI Europe
Lucía is a Junior Expert in Resilience and Climate Adaptation at ICLEI Europe, where she supports European regions and cities in strengthening their climate resilience through projects such as Commit2Green, CARDIMED, and Pathways2Resilience.
Holding an MSc in Environmental Governance and a specialisation in Gender and Feminist Studies with a particular focus on Latin America, she brings an intersectional lens to climate adaptation, with a focus on just resilience. A background in education further shapes her approach to knowledge-sharing and capacity-building.
In parallel to her professional work, Lucía has been actively engaged in community-led initiatives for environmental and gender justice, advocating for grassroots action in local contexts.
Lead for Climate Resilience, Resilient Cities Network
Dr. Leon Kapetas, Lead for Climate Resilience, Resilient Cities Network
A hydrologist by training, Dr Leon Kapetas is Lead for Climate Resilience at Resilient Cities Network. He works with cities to support the development of climate-resilient pathways, with a particular focus on Nature-based Solutions (NbS) as a means of adapting to climate change, protecting natural capital, and advancing social development objectives.
Leon has experience across research, consulting, and policy-support environments. He previously worked as a climate resilience consultant for the World Bank, focusing on African cities, and has supported water resources development in South America. He has also served as an expert for the European Urban Initiative of the ERDF, supporting the mainstreaming of blue-green infrastructure programmes. As a Research Associate at the University of Cambridge, Leon developed methods for valuing NbS in adaptation planning. Over the years, he has contributed to numerous capacity-building initiatives on climate resilience and the mainstreaming of NbS.