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FUTURAL Multi-Actor Pilots (MAPs)

BELGIUM: Westhoek (Flanders)

Citizen engagement and quality of life.
Climate adaptation and mitigation.

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SPAIN: Durangaldea

Resilience to shocks.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

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AUSTRIA: Pongau

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.
Resilience to shocks.

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LITHUANIA: Jonava

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

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ROMANIA: Birda

Climate adaptation and mitigation.
Lifelong education and training.

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GREECE: Kythira

Lifelong education and training.
Resilence to Shocks.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

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BELGIUM: Westhoek (Flanders)

Citizen engagement and quality of life.
Climate adaptation and mitigation.

MAP leader: Province – West Vlaanderen
Region Type: Flat surface
Population: 220,000 in 18 municipalities

Current Challenges:
  1. Ageing population: 25% of population is over 60. Increased cost of remote health care, and the distance to social and health infrastructure are significant difficulties. Many older people reside in villages without public or commercial amenities and inadequate transport, limiting their access to social and health infrastructure and services.
  2. Water (quality, shortage): Westhoek relies heavily on water for agriculture and general consumption. There are two water utilities in the area. The Dikkebus and Zillebeke ponds and the Yser River are used for water extraction. Although high water quality is essential, erosion, salinisation, pesticides, phosphate and nitrogen have a negative impact on water quality.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Citizen engagement and quality of life: An online platform will be developed to assess accessibility to infrastructure, health and social services. Policymakers, stakeholders, and authorities will integrate the results with machine learning and AI models to propose solutions that affect citizens’ accessibility and quality of life.

Climate adaptation and mitigation: A hydrological model of the area and Yser River basin will be constructed and monitored via an online platform, to record drought conditions and water quality. Local stakeholders will analyse future climate change scenarios and propose a set of spatially distributed nature-based solutions (NBS) for developing future climate adaptation strategies focusing on water drought and improving the negative impacts of various activities on water quality.

SPAIN: Durangaldea

Resilience to shocks.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

MAP leader: Asociación De Desarrollo Rural De  Durangaldea
Region Type: Mountain villages
Population: 95.202,00 in 13 municipalities

Current Challenges:
  1. Transport systems vulnerable to natural disasters: Risk of bridge collapse due to flooding, landslides, or lack of maintenance threatens the area’s transit network and residents’ well-being. Lack of information and access to early warning systems.
  2. Availability of services and mobility provision. Limited transport options in peripheral, rural and remote areas hinder access to basic services, jobs and social activities affecting citizen engagement and quality of life.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Resilience to shocks: A crowdsensing platform will assess road networks and bridges based on rural traffic trends to help estimate the risk likelihood and severity of road network problems to anticipate preventive measures.

Citizen engagement and quality of life: An online platform will monitor vital infrastructure, travel time to infrastructure or services (e.g., hospitals), hard-to-reach areas (e.g., firefighter access), and general accessibility. The results will be used by policy makers and stakeholders to develop actions and solutions to improve the vulnerability status of the area with the support of machine learning and AI models.

AUSTRIA: Pongau

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.
Resilience to shocks.

MAP leader: Regionalverband Pongau
Region Type: Hills, Mountains, Alpine 
Population: 81,194 in 25 municipalities

Current Challenges:
  1. Poor diversification of bio-derived products and production of waste: Agricultural production and wood processing lack innovation. Farms lack crop diversification. Classical food production, centralised and inefficient processing routes. Hotels don’t recycle food wastes. Burned biomass is thrown in landfills. 
  2. High dependence on tourism: Businesses and villages still rely on winter (ski) and summer tourists (hiking, cycling). During the rest of the year, many infrastructures are underutilised and employment is low. 
  3. Inefficient use of space: 16% of built-up area is used year-round. Remaining infrastructure (hotels, lifts, spa) used only during high tourist season. Due to underuse, this infrastructure requires regular maintenance. 
  4. Old buildings: In several villages, old imperial buildings are deteriorating and cannot be used. Renovations are required to make them attractive to investors.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management:  An online circular bioeconomy platform will provide knowledge on resource availability and sharing, product diversification, and employment creation outside of tourism, reducing dependence on tourism. There will be a first point of contact and support for bioeconomy initiatives.

Resilience to shocks:  A crowd-sensing platform tool will measure the quality of existing infrastructures, especially after a long period of disuse (old buildings, lifts, snow cannons), and decide what kind of maintenance or renovation is needed or if something needs to be replaced.

LITHUANIA: Jonava

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

MAP leader: Municipality of Jonava
Region Type: Flat surface 
Population: 30,000 in city

Current Challenges:
  1. Loss of crops due to local bison population: Native free-ranging bison destroy crops in Jonava, causing farmers significant losses. Bison damaged 500 hectares of crops and 75 hectares of land in 2015. Wild bison damage increased in 2016 and 2017. 
  2. Ageing population and lack of opportunities: Younger generations are leaving for better education and professional prospects. Lack of job opportunities for well-educated individuals, especially in technology, is a concern.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Circular Bioeconomy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management: The Biodiversity Score will analyse and monitor bison populations and provide information on their numbers and location so that precise preventive measures can be taken to keep them out of crop fields and improve ecosystem management.

Citizen engagement and quality of life: An online eGovernment platform will enable citizens in Jonava Municipality to easily report local issues, defects, or concerns by pinpointing them on a map. This will allow the municipality to quickly address and fix problems, helping to maintain a cleaner, more pleasant environment and encouraging citizen involvement with local authorities.

ROMANIA: Birda

Climate adaptation and mitigation.
Lifelong education and training.

MAP leader:Birda Municipality
Region Type: Flat surface
Population: 2,105 in 4 villages

Current Challenges:
  1. Flooding: Three major settlements —Birda, Gataia, and Berecuta— all share access to water. Water is being discharged into the Barzava river through a conduit, which runs from Birda to Barzava. This canal constantly floods Gataia near Barzava during severe rains.
  2. Bad quality water supply: The water supply is from groundwater sources and its quality is not yet acceptable. Due to intense pig farming in the past, the quality of groundwater is very poor.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Climate adaptation and mitigation: An online platform will be created to monitor a hydrological model of the area for capturing the floods of Barzava, drought conditions and the quality of groundwater sources. An analysis of future climate change scenarios will be performed and a set of spatially distributed Nature-Based Solutions will be proposed. Aquatim will support models supplying data and evaluating SS based on their water management experience.

Lifelong education and training: An online platform delivering open courses will improve social knowledge of water challenges and facilitate stakeholder engagement in proposed solutions for flood protection, water availability, and water quality. The courses will help students understand the challenges, methods, and solutions; build the skills needed to operate innovative water and Nature-Based Solutions; and interact and demonstrate real-world solutions.

GREECE: Kythira

Lifelong education and training.
Resilience to Shocks.
Citizen engagement and quality of life.

MAP leader: KIPA
Region Type: Island
Population: 4,000 in 65 villages

Current Challenges:
  1. Youth leaving island: The number of young adults under 35 is decreasing, and limited opportunities for young entrepreneurs contribute to slow growth. Locals lack education, skills development, and training to expand their interests and acquire modern skills.
  2. Underexploited natural heritage: Kythira has high potential as a sustainable tourism destination with its natural and cultural heritage. However, the geography of the land and lack of an easy reporting system makes it difficult to have real-time information on the status of 100+ km of hiking paths, and therefore, to ensure timely maintenance. Furthermore, many pathways, small trails, and significant areas of botanical and natural interest remain uncharted and therefore, unknown to most people.
How the FUTURAL Smart Solutions address these challenges

Lifelong education and training: An online platform providing tailored courses to meet the needs of the local community in Kythira aims to build modern workplace skills and encourage young people to acquire new, contemporary skills related to digitization and innovative services.

Resilience to shocks: A crowdsensing platform will assess bridges based on rural traffic trends to help estimate the risk likelihood and severity of infrastructure problems to anticipate preventive measures.

Citizen engagement and quality of life: An online platform to allow citizens and visitors to easily report problems encountered along hiking trails, to ensure timely maintenance of areas under protection for the conservation of natural heritage and biodiversity.