The PENATE project aims at assessing the performance and effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) as a tool for adapting urban environments to climate change. To achieve this, it proposes to develop multi-scale, multi-criteria, context-specific, and evolving evaluation tools and methods for local authorities.

The project relies on a multidisciplinary consortium (including expertise in hydrology, microclimatology, ecology, public policy, and law), comprising both research organizations and operational entities. It also encompasses four pilot sites where NbS are currently being monitored. The project focuses on the following key issues: urban heat islands mitigating, stormwater and flooding management, quality of life enhancement, while ensuring ecological continuity within the territories.

To achieve these goals, PENATE intends to: (i) study and understand the constraints (legal, institutional, technical) associated with the implementation of various regulatory/strategic documents and how NbS can address them, (ii) establish connections between the intrinsic properties of vegetation and their impact on thermo-hydraulic processes in NbSinfrastructure (using a functional traits-based approach), and (iii) have digital tools capable of simulating the multifunctionality of NbS and assessing their performance across the various scales of a complex territory.

The outcomes of PENATE are intended to facilitate the mainstreaming of NbS through the implementation of regulatory documents such as Local Urban Development Plans (PLUi), Climate Air Energy Plans (PCAET), or the Zero Net Artificialization (ZAN) objective by providing to local authorities a dedicated territorial diagnosis and decision support tool for land-use planning in general and the implementation of NbS in particular.