Unlike the "gray" infrastructural solutions that rely on finite, unrecyclable, and more often than not, harmful materials, the NBS includes restoring and conserving natural biodiversity in the endeavor to harness rising environmental issues in urban cores.

And while the traditional approach may appear quicker to solve many of the issues, it has to be maintained and restored, again causing more damage, waste, and vast interventions. NBS has to be kept up as well, but its maintenance is way less costly in money and finite natural resources, and it’s self-sustainable to the most extent. As a plus, it is proven that staying surrounded by natural elements improves our physical and mental health, thus magnifying all our capabilities.

We believe citizens are the ultimate experts on matters of the quality of their lives.

With participation being one of the crucial pillars of the euPOLIS philosophy, the Front-Runner cities are in a constant co-creative process that puts together a team of professionals with the genuine, grounded experience and needs of local citizens. That means collecting their insights, emotions, hopes, and even psycho-physical state (through wearing special biometrical devices) and including them in the designing processes of implementing the NBS. All these steps aim to help cities embrace the transition to bottom-up decision-making methods and empower citizens to participate in inventing their public environment.

Alongside nature’s solutions being reinaugurated into urban cores, the euPOLIS uses innovative technologies to support this process:

1. The myFeel application - Existing and New Functions tailored to the euPOLIS project (Sentio Labs)
2. The euPOLIS BioAssist application (BioAssist)
3. The Urban Water simulation tools (NTUA - UWMH Lab)
4. The network of permanent sensors (Plegma)
5. The euPOLIS 4D Visualisation module (GSH)
6. The euPOLIS Master Planning Methodology, the GDPM (EnPlus)