D1.1 Workshop on conceptual framework of ICARUS

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1 Ref. Ares(2016) /03/2016 Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge: Improving the air quality and reducing the carbon footprint of European cities Project: ICARUS Full project title: Integrated Climate forcing and Air pollution Reduction in Urban Systems D1.1 Workshop on conceptual framework of ICARUS WP1 Methodological framework development Lead beneficiary: AUTH Date: November 2016 Nature: Other Dissemination level: Public

2 Author(s): AUTH Version: 2/25 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION STAKEHOLDER LIST INVITATION AGENDA PRESS RELEASES Announcement Assessment PARTICIPANTS LIST DISSEMINATION MATERIAL MINUTES CONCLUSIONS... 25

3 Author(s): AUTH Version: 3/25 Document Information Grant Agreement Number Full title Project URL Project Officer Acronym ICARUS Integrated Climate forcing and Air pollution Reduction in Urban Systems Christian Ballarò - Christin.BALLARO@ec.europa.eu Delivery date Contractual 31/10/2016 Actual 03/11/2016 Status Draft Final Nature Demonstrator Report Prototype Other Dissemination level Confidential Public Responsible Author (Partners) Responsible Author Other partners (Institution) Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) Denis Sarigiannis denis@eng.auth.gr Partner AUTH Phone ADDMA Document History Name (Institution) Date Version AUTH 03/11/2016 Final

4 Author(s): AUTH Version: 4/25 1 INTRODUCTION ICARUS is designed to develop a vision of smart and sustainable green cities, seeking to minimize environmental, climate and health impacts in nine EU cities of variable size. Engaging local communities and meeting policy makers and stakeholders is of utmost importance for ICARUS, in order to embrace state-of-the-art perceptions and vulnerabilities of decision makers, embedding interaction between researchers and stakeholders in all aspects of research, implementation and dissemination. As such, the ICARUS project will apply a trans-disciplinary alliance approach with iterative engagement and communication with multiple stakeholders from all nine participating countries, including representatives of city partners and main polluters, environmental managers, health care providers, civil society, planners, engineers, policy makers and the commercial sector. Stakeholders engagement will eventually help guide the overall research direction and Decision Support System (DSS) design to ensure relevance, will provide local knowledge, data and insight for specific Case Studies, will aid dissemination and impact and also assist with citizens integration into the project research, as end-users. Under this framework and WP 1 (Methodological framework development), Task 1.2 (Development of the methodological approach), a stakeholder workshop was organized, in collaboration with WP8 (Dissemination, communication and involvement of stakeholders), in order to bring stakeholders together, engage them into the ICARUS system, exchange views and explore win-win solutions towards urban air quality improvement and climate change mitigation in different socio-economic settings. The 1 st Stakeholder Engagement Workshop was held in Athens hosted by Europe Direct, on 3 rd November 2016 and was an initiative of AUTH, co-organized in cooperation with Athens Development and Destination Management Agency (ADDMA) and the Resilient Office of City of Athens, focusing on the promotion of participatory development of project s methodological advances and community based research. 2 STAKEHOLDER LIST Since the beginning of the project and after the kick-off meeting organized by the Project Coordinator AUTH between 1-3 June 2016 in Thessaloniki, a stakeholder list was developed including basic categories of stakeholders as detailed below: City Partners (including local public authorities and governing organizations) Industry & SMEs Associations from the Engineering & Medical Sector Decision & policy-making/regulatory bodies Academic/ scientific community International Environmental Organizations Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Lobbying Groups Media & Press This list was communicated to all Project Partners and a total of 124 stakeholders were identified, personally contacted and invited to the event. ADDMA officially sent invitations to all identified

5 Author(s): AUTH Version: 5/25 stakeholders. Media and the press were also invited to the event for wide publication and dissemination coverage. 3 INVITATION AGENDA To invite stakeholders and project partners to the Stakeholder Engagement Workshop an Invitation Letter and the Agenda were prepared by AUTH and sent to all identified stakeholders by ADDMA. A follow up of direct contact via phone calls followed to ensure stakeholders active participation. The Invitation Letter and the Agenda sent are reported below: Figure 1: Invitation letter for the Athens Stakeholder Engagement Workshop

6 Author(s): AUTH Version: 6/25 Figure 2: Agenda to the Athens Stakeholder Engagement Workshop

7 Author(s): AUTH Version: 7/25 4 PRESS RELEASES For the publicity of the event and wider participation of the society and the citizens, a press release was drafted from AUTH in cooperation with ADDMA and the Resilient Office of City of Athens. Moreover, further press release was issued after the event to summarize it s results and impacts. 4.1 Announcement

8 Author(s): AUTH Version: 8/25 Figure 3: Press release - Announcement The press release for the announcement of the stakeholder workshop was indexed at the following media: %CE%BF%CE%BB%CE%BF%CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B7%CF%81%CF%89%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE% BD%CE%B5%CF%82-%CE%BB%CF%8D%CF%83%CE%B5%CE%B9%CF%82- %CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CE%BD- %CE%BA%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84/ / /?type=3&theater Twitter

9 Author(s): AUTH Version: 9/ Assessment After the end of the event, another press release was developed and published, as reported below:

10 Author(s): AUTH Version: 10/25 Figure 4: Second press release - Assessment The press release for the assessment of the stakeholder event was indexed at the following media:

11 Author(s): AUTH Version: 11/25 5 PARTICIPANTS LIST Forty-nine participants attended the workshop mainly from environmental public authorities, environmental organizations, academic institutions, industry & SMEs as reported in the list below:

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16 Author(s): AUTH Version: 16/25 6 DISSEMINATION MATERIAL Project dissemination material (i.e. folders, notepads, pens) were produced for the purposes of the event, and were distributed to all participants. The folder also included the Agenda of the meeting and a Certificate of Attendance. The first issue of the ICARUS Newsletter was also reproduced and disseminated to the participants. Figure 5: Certificate of Attendance

17 Author(s): AUTH Version: 17/25 7 MINUTES The Athens Stakeholder Engagement Event was opened by Assoc. Professor D.A. Sarigiannis (AUTH), Principal Investigator of ICARUS project and Environmental Engineering Laboratory (EnvE-Lab) Director, who welcomed all participants and provided a summary introduction on the importance of environmental decongestion methods and strategies for close to zero or zero carbon footprint to improve population health and well-being, highlighting the transition pathways for short and long term solutions. Prof. Sarigiannis gave the floor to Mrs. Evelin Matiaki (AUTH), European Projects Officer from Environmental Engineering Laboratory (EnvE-Lab), who moderated the first session of the workshop. Mrs. Matiaki initiated the session with a brief reference to the concept of ICARUS project and its main objective, which is to develop integrated tools and strategies for urban systems, in order to improve air quality, introduce new policies and measures to reduce carbon footprint in European cities in the short, medium and long term. She highlighted the importance of stakeholders integration in the ICARUS system, encouraging dialogue to capture different perspectives, aiming at minimizing the adverse effects of air pollution on the environment and improving resource efficiency, with the vision to create smart sustainable and green cities. Then Professor A. Sarigiannis presented the ICARUS methodological framework and stakeholders engagement analysis. He underlined that the main aim of the project is to develop a vision of future green cities, seeking to minimize environmental and health impacts, and to develop transition pathways to demonstrate how current cities may be transformed to cities with nearly zero or negative carbon footprint and maximal wellbeing in the next 50 years. The ICARUS Consortium is made up of 18 Partner Institutions from 9 European countries. Prof. Sarigiannis made illustrated the project s workflow structure and how the various work-packages are integrated into a functional structure to reach the project objectives. He also presented some examples of technological (i.e. measures that will lead to a reduction of emissions at the source) and non-technological (i.e. measures that induce behavioral changes) measures to reduce both carbon footprint and air quality burden (win-win solutions). Techno-economic analysis of possible scenarios following the introduction of such measures will result in the definition of cost-effective environmental and climate protection and air quality management plans which will be adapted to the specific needs of different EU cities and regions. Prof. Sarigiannis stressed the importance to encourage citizens direct involvement into the research project implementation ( the citizen to become researcher ), in order to provide answers to real problems of the society. Innovative technologies which allow the active participation of the citizens into the research activities (e.g. portable exposure sensors to chemical pollutants in the form of silicone bracelet) were also presented and discussed. Prof. Sarigiannis proceeded with the analysis of the stakeholder engagement plan, by putting people first, contributing to governance but also transferring ownership from policy makers to citizens, thus reducing risk of failure. During the project, stakeholders will be mapped and their profiles will be analyzed, while their engagement in the project will be sought through various channels, such as regular workshops in all participating cities, work meetings, web-based discussion beside a series of annual workshops on methodological advances and new findings, training workshops, summer schools etc. ICARUS will also deliver a Decision Support System (DSS) a web-based flexible and interactive platform with main functionalities and requirements customized to stakeholders needs. The DSS aims to assist stakeholders with a more user-friendly route, in support of air quality and climate change governance. Training will be provided for the platform use to all stakeholders

18 Author(s): AUTH Version: 18/25 All interested parties may join the ICARUS network through the project web-site by at or following on Twitter at ICARUSEU2020. The stakeholders discussion was opened by Mrs. Evi Tsanakaki from Center for Renewable Energy Sources and Savings (CRES), responsible for the Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy, serving also as national contact point. She positioned herself on the exact way to engage stakeholders, asking for the main contact and she presented an integrated and wide approach to engage the society, including features such as poverty, job creation, refugees issue and the well-being of citizens in the middle of an economic crisis. She focused on the needs for the implementation of a mechanism to ensure the follow up of all the initiatives organized. She also mentioned that an approach of stakeholders at neighborhood or municipal level is much more direct and important in order to ensure participation, while she referred that a lot of resources are needed in order to ensure citizens participation. Mr. Fabio Germagnoli, Director of EUCENTRE in Italy took the floor, speaking of a network of projects already having started and being implemented in the field of air pollution. He also raised the issue of mobility, placing the wrist bracelet for air pollution measurements along people who travel and not stay at a place. Also, he addressed privacy and security issues, regarding the wrist band. Mr. P. Kollas, from UNISCRAP company specialized on waste management, expressed his particular interest of becoming a member of the ICARUS network, and proposed specific ways of collaboration between US and EU, transferring the knowledge base to the Municipalities and figuring out the excess need for being more proactive in all activities undertaken. As his company is specialized in waste management methodologies and technologies, there is a direct relation with air pollution and all waste management methods used. Mr. Kollas committed himself to send specific proposal for collaboration and synergies between academic and industrial sectors. Following, Mr. Pierro Pelizzaro from Milan Municipality took the floor to speak about city key projects and about the recommendation of EU on the use of standardized more harmonized Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) between the Projects (as in the Lighthouse project). Boosting the green, environmental economy will help more the individual he claimed, while gamification incentives such as ticket discounts, parking discounts etc. will create competition and empower citizens and the society towards participation. Mr. Flokos from UPCOM said that a change should be made to the message for citizens. He said that there is no benefit just talking about climate change, but to provide solutions for everyday life problems, improving quality of life, adopting environmental friendly habits, i.e. walking versus taking the car etc. Such simple improvements in behavior may lead to well-being as well. Mr. Rainer Friedrich, Professor at University of Stuttgart, underlined the importance of a personalized health impact assessment to enhance citizens awareness about the benefits that come out by changing their daily behavior. Mr. Saul Garcia Dos Santos from ISCIII, Spain said that there is problem in convincing people about the benefit of a good air quality due to the marginal benefit that exists in the long run. So the issue is to solve the problems that exist today, identifying the indirect benefits and plan about long term solutions. Prof. Sarigiannis commented that it is important to provide solutions that apply to each city separately, identifying local problems first, as different problems have various approaches and therefore the same solution may not work for each city. Synergies have to be accomplished, after identifying best practices among the cities and tailored solutions should to be proposed, according to

19 Author(s): AUTH Version: 19/25 the specificity of each city. Situations needs to be analyzed and to that base, stakeholders to be integrated in the play. For example, Ljubljana is a green city and other cities that are lacking behind should identify its advantages and move towards adopting similar practices. The same is in force also for other cities that may have technological advantages, while other cities that are lacking on this sector, should capitalize on each other s experiences, bridging the gap between more and less developed approaches within the cities. Mr. Andreas Serlidakis from a private company, said that his company has developed an innovative system for internal combustion engines to reduce emissions. He attended the event and by hearing the discussion that took place he wondered how ICARUS can help him to integrate the newly developed technological tool towards environmental decongestion and how he may become a member of the ICARUS network. Prof. Sarigiannis encouraged him and Mr. Karakitsios of the EnvE- Lab team to discuss and exchange of ideas and views. Mrs. Natassa Kanavou, consultant to the Mayor of Piraeus, which is part of the Covenant of Mayors, expressed her concern about air pollution in port cities, as there are no physical boundaries between the city and the port regarding the pollution, while there are administrative boundaries, causing problems about responsibilities allocation. It is very important that air pollution caused by emission in the ports within cities is taking into consideration, as this is an important factor for environmental surcharge. Prof. Sarigiannis replied that it is of utmost importance to treat air pollution problem at the level of metropolitan areas and not just examine emissions within the cities but also outside them. Figure 6: Assoc. Prof. D. A. Sarigiannis, ICARUS Principal Investigator, EnvE-Lab Director and Mrs. E. Matiaki, European Projects Manager, EnvE-Lab, AUTH Professor and Chief Resilient Officer of City of Athens, Mrs. Eleni Myrivili together with Mr. Georgiou, Project Manager of Resilient Athens and with Prof. Rainer Friedrich from University of Stuttgart (ICARUS Project Partner) moderated the 2 nd session of the workshop about the integration of ICARUS methodology to local/regional/national action plans will be discussed and the connection with resilient cities.

20 Author(s): AUTH Version: 20/25 Figure 7: Workshop participants Stakeholders Prof. Eleni Myrivili as chair of the 2 nd session, welcomed all participants, introducing herself and giving a short introduction on Resilient Athens. Prof Myrivili explained the meaning of a resilient a system, which is a system hit by a shock, that however has the capacity to transform and stand the shock for its benefit. (i.e. the refugee issue in Athens). Cities deal with many relevant issues that they have to face every day. The whole idea of resilience is multifaceted under the scope of sustainability, as multiple factors contribute to resilience. Resilient Athens is linked to ICARUS through multiple connections i.e. decision making and leadership, transport infrastructure and network, very strong stakeholders engagement plan, environmental policy etc. Many people in Athens were questioned as to what is resilient, in order to take their opinions recorded under the perception model. In the city as a city and not at the level of Municipality there are interdependencies between different sectors. For Resilient Athens there are 5 Discovery areas: 1. Neighborhood: Maximizing Local Assets: the Athenian neighborhood 2. Data: Data Driven and Inclusive City 3. Nature: Nature in the city: best possible use of urban resources 4. Crisis: Crisis within the Crisis 5. Society: Enhance social cohesion [Cross-Cutting] Specifically, emphasis was given by Prof. Myrivili on Discovery Area 3: Nature in the city and the best uses of urban resources with specific questions addressed. The sustainable development goals focus on cooperation with SDSN for Greece, realizing that the problem is that each piece is working separately. City of Athens instead, is constantly trying to align different things and recognize synergies, so as to accelerate and build on each other experiences, favoring from capitalization. There is need for Authorities to cooperate and all become part of a bigger vision plan. Cooperation is a key issue and connection with related working groups, such as the Directorate of Environment on Municipal, Regional and Ministerial level. Bringing in people from surrounding municipalities and

21 Author(s): AUTH Version: 21/25 integrating them into the system will help with start building ad-hoc relations. Resilient Athens is also closely working with C40 who creates climate action plans, in order to create a response on adaptation and mitigation to heat waves at city level. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to create horizontal dialogue among institutional stakeholders. Within the next Section and according to the Agenda, the ICARUS methodology and Resilient Athens connection was analyzed by Mr. K. Georgiou, Project Manager of Resilient Athens. The Discovery Areas that are most closely connected with ICARUS project are: DA2, through a web- and smartphone/tablet-based tool to be developed in order to inform citizens in participating cities about how their life style affects their carbon footprint and the health impacts of their actions/consumer choices. DA3, through developing visions of green cities with clean air, close to zero or negative carbon footprint and maximal wellbeing, as well as a pathway for the realization of these visions in the next 50 years. Development of a concrete plan towards achieving these visions in participating cities. DA5, through enhancement of social cohesion and raising citizen awareness regarding the impacts of their activities on air pollution and climate forcing and increase societal acceptance of emission reduction policies. Mrs. Myrivili mentioned that it is very important to monitor the data system for air quality or waste management or pavements, using input from ICARUS and including all kind of mobility action plans (i.e. local action plan on heatwaves and UHI effect, action plan for climate change adaptation and mitigation, action plan on sustainable urban mobility, national action plan on climate change adaptation). The public transportation is out of jurisdiction, as it is extremely hard and complicated in terms of who does what and of responsibilities. A discussion followed among the panelists. Mr. Rainer Friedrich from University of Stuttgart said that it is important to learn what stakeholders want and once the ICARUS results will be obtained, concrete measures may be proposed with regard to air pollution control and reduction of GHG emissions. Mr. Georgiou mentioned that the heat-wave action plan is part of the climate change action plan, but should also work separately in order to collect data and then integrated into the climate change action plan. Prof. Sarigiannis underlined the fact that ICARUS is a project focusing on different aspects under the same scope. An optimal plan should be drawn first, allocation of responsibilities, measures proposal and applications at the final stage, leading to the implementation of the optimal solution. There is the need to involve stakeholders for minimizing the emissions to not paying penalty as country for the GHG emissions, but this should not be the ultimate goal. There should exist a bigger vision at national level, thinking out of the box and doing the best as possible to reach optimal solutions. Athens does not have jurisdiction, so if they want to have 10 more stations nobody will stop them. Therefore, the legal framework is one issue, but what can be really done is a different issue. So, there should be an approach beyond ICARUS, addressing society concerns first by giving solutions and then reducing pollution levels. Changes introduce synergistic effects on health and synergistic mechanisms, which lead to more resilient cities. Prof. Sarigiannis with Prof. Rainer Friedrich, at the final session of the event, proceeded with the presentation of the benefits of stakeholders engagement towards smart, green & healthy cities. Particularly, Prof. Sarigiannis referred to stakeholder engagement meetings also taking place in other

22 Author(s): AUTH Version: 22/25 ICARUS cities, with the purpose of horizontally involve people in the project and create win-win solutions both for the stakeholders and the environment. Some of these benefits are quoted below: bringing players together on concrete projects and innovation platforms for collaboration, facilitating access to Global Markets through international cooperation; Agent Based Solutions; promotion of low carbon strategies for all types of territories, in particular for urban areas, including promotion of sustainable multi-modal urban mobility and mitigation of air pollution through adaptation of relevant measures; participation in a strongly interconnected European Network providing information about health benefits, air quality and environmental decongestion; adaptation of measures and policies adjusted to identified local needs to mitigate climate change and reduce air pollution, taking into consideration both environmental and climate considerations simultaneously, in different socio-economic settings, especially when designing emission abatement strategies (win-win solutions); contribution to the Covenant of Mayors, which should be renewed with a local commitment of at least 40% of CO 2 reduction; citizens integration through motivation & reward patterns; introduction of an encouraging and integrating policy aiming at initiate long-term changes in behavioral patterns, development of environmental mentality & consciousness; promoting capacity building at national & international level through training and exchange Programmes; collaborative creation of knowledge; effective impact on policies ensuring the credibility, accountability & legitimacy of activities and results. Prof. Sarigiannis also referred to the high importance of synergies between cities. For example, Ljubljana is a green city, Athens is less green, Thessaloniki is a blue city and less green. This is a great opportunity for cooperation, capitalization and learn from each other. As such, new visions should be created by 2050, beyond the trend line, with a complete change of pattern that opens our minds in new ways to do it. The concept is not to think something is unfeasible but innovative ways and methods for achieving the new vision. Prof. Myrivili mentioned that it is important to deal with today s problem, this also make cities to stick to every day s problems and not only think beyond the line. Prof. Sarigiannis referred to smart, green healthy cities, all together making the city more functional, green, citizen-centric, empowering actors at all levels. He stressed the importance of the use of new systems even for modelling, taking account dynamics of society, trying to encompass monitoring, assessment, evaluation, horizontal indicators, gamification applications and capturing dynamics of citizens. The ambition is to make ICARUS a real citizens centric project. Prof. Myrivili, referred to the great synergy in methodology of ICARUS and Resilient Athens, declaring that goals need to be very ambitious and optimistic, making the citizens integration a sine qua non condition, even from the very beginning. After the end of the discussion, Prof. Sarigiannis proceeded with summing up the key conclusions of the workshop and encouraged the participation and the organization of many similar stakeholder

23 Author(s): AUTH Version: 23/25 engagement events also to other cities, due to the high socio-economic impact that is encompassed into the stakeholders and citizens engagement into the system. Figure 9: Ε. Myrivili, Assist. Professor, University of Aegean, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Athens Council Member (Urban Sustainability); D. Sarigiannis, Assoc. Professor, AUTH, Principal Investigator ICARUS, EnvE-Lab Director; R. Friedrich, Professor University of Stuttgart; Κ. Georgiou, Project Manager, Resilient Athens

24 Author(s): AUTH Version: 24/25 Figure 10: Participants at the Athens Stakeholder Engagement Workshop

25 Author(s): AUTH Version: 25/25 8 CONCLUSIONS Stakeholder engagement is ultimately about building ongoing communication and lifelong partnerships with parties whose expertise and contribution is crucial to the realization of the project ambitions. City partners and citizens at large are the core focus group of the ICARUS research. By putting people first, the participant cities of ICARUS will not only contribute to governance but will also transfer ownership of the policies to citizens, thus reducing risk of failure. Through the use of innovative technologies and web-based tools (e.g. the Decision Support System DSS) ICARUS will assist and train stakeholders in urban impact assessment as well as educate them about the health and environmental benefits from their involvement (win-win approach). Through the event, citizens participation was encouraged towards the research project implementation, with key message the citizen to become researcher, for the planning of research activities, their implementation and results and to provide answers to real problems of the society. The use of innovative technologies developed will allow the active participation of the citizens into the research procedure (e.g. portable exposure sensors to chemical pollutants in the form of silicone bracelet). More events are to follow for the stakeholder engagement in other European cities. All interested stakeholders may become a member of the ICARUS stakeholder network, by one of the following ways: Through the project web-site -> Get Involved By dropping an info@icarus2020.eu Twitter: ICARUSEU2020