Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL

WSL Research Program NOVA-City: Nature-based and Open solutions for Viable Adaptable Cities

WSL is planning the new inter- and transdisciplinary Research Program NOVA-City to support stakeholders in rendering urban areas more sustainable, resilient, and livable.

Swiss cities are key arenas of national development – spatially, socially, ecologically, and economically. Increasing pressure on land use, the diversity of urban stakeholders, and various challenges that interact with climate change call for integrated and cross-sectoral development approaches. Addressing these challenges requires research explicitly focused on urban systems that can support cities in developing, testing, and implementing promising solutions. NOVA-City aims to contribute to actionable solutions for fostering resilient, adaptive, and liveable urban environments.

The three cities of Winterthur, Fribourg and Sion are partner cities in the NOVA City program. Hence, the focus of the research program is on medium-sized cities with comparable dynamics in different physical contexts.

Program’s activities will start in 2027.

The following projects are being carried out as part of the NOVA-City programme:

  • UrbChoi: Urban landowners’ preferences for multifunctional nature-based solutions: A choice experiment on policy instruments and measures for fostering biodiversity in cities (Principal Investigator: Tobias Schulz)
  • WaterScarCity: Water Scarcity Forecasting for Swiss Cities (Principal Investigator: Konrad Bogner)
  • GreenDenseHealth: Assessing the interaction effects of building types, densities and green space diversity on human wellbeing (PI: Nicole Bauer)
  • AMEICA: Automated Monitoring to Evaluate and Inform Conservation Actions (Principal Investigator: Philipp Brun)
  • GreenRe: From native to resilient: Reinforcing urban green infrastructure under climate change (PI: Boris Pezzatti)
  • MOSAIC: Mapping the condition of Swiss urban biotopes using remote sensing (PI: Isabelle Helfenstein)
  • ResiVeg: Climate-resilient vegetation for sponge cities in Switzerland (PI: Sabine Fink)
  • ABUNDANT: Associated biodiversity of urban native and non-native trees (Principal Investigator: Benno Augustinus)
  • CoolCiTrees: Urban tree–soil interactions driving urban cooling (Principal Investigator: Christoph Bachofen)

Head of Programme