The UPSURGE project is addressing the multitude of interconnected problems faced by cities (e.g., climate crisis, high competition for space, lack of resources, inequality, lack of regenerative governance, pollution, mental and general health) by introducing the European Regenerative Urban Lighthouse as a participatory, experience-based, measurable, smart and regenerative reference framework and network. The Lighthouse will enable targeted NBS implementation in combination with integrated monitoring of their impact supported by a cutting-edge, multi-modal sensing system as well as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI)-based digital ecosystem for cities to unlock their regenerative potential and provide them with knowledge and guidance in regenerative transition.

The Lighthouse as a best-practice reference framework will be established to offer systemic support for uptake, upscaling, exploitation and dissemination. The knowledge created in UPSURGE will be compiled in several exploitable assets with exploitation tools enabling the Lighthouse to become a central European NBS-facilitating reference network expediting the implementation of targeted NBS for air quality and carbon neutrality and overall renaturation of cities.

The project will achieve Technology Readiness Level 7 (TRL7) by demonstrating the UPSURGE concept in an operational environment in 5 cities: Belfast, Breda, Budapest, Maribor and Katowice. Further UPSURGE innovations will be validated in two simulated environments (i.e., Prato and Patras) as virtual “client cities” of the European Urban Regenerative Lighthouse, testing the regeneration process developed in UPSURGE and replicability.