TNOC Festival 2024: Full Schedule

SET YOUR TIME ZONE TO BERLIN (CET) TO SEE THE CORRECT TIMES!!

Welcome to the Nature of Cities Festival 2024! A gathering to get inspired, to learn, to present, collaborate, or to meet hundreds of new best friends and urban nature co-conspirators. The Berlin segment is an all-inclusive multi-day experience featuring field-trips, in person talks, workshops, art interventions, a film festival, Farm-to-Table dinners, various opportunities for socializing, and much more. All of it takes place at the Atelier Gardens venue, and various other locations around Berlin.

If you are not registered yet, you can register using a credit card or coupon code below. To use a different payment method (ApplePay, GiroPay, etc...) visit the TNOC FESTIVAL WEBSITE for other options.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

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VENUE ADDRESS:
Oberlandstraße 26-35, 12099 Berlin

08:00 EDT

A radical alternative to drop-down planning: the rivers and People approach centers people, ecology, culture and community action to reimagine low income riverine neighborhoods.

“No more masters, no more masterplans” Wangui Kimari, 23’

The “Rivers and People” approach, co-developed, codified, and implemented by KDI + partners since 2015, builds from the ecology and morphology of the river, and community and youth action on public space. In the session, we will prototype the “Rivers and People” approach for a real neighbourhood in Nairobi, Kenya with participants.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Franklin Kirimi

Senior Design Associate, Kounkuey Design Initiative

Mr. Franklin Kirimi is a Landscape Architect, who has dedicated the last 5 years to the contextualization and sustainability of nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban informal settlements and in the urban context of sub-Saharan African cities. With a keen focus on overcoming challenges... Read More →

Joe Mulligan

Founding Principal, Kounkuey Design Initiative

Joe is a Founding Principal of KDI, and currently serves as Executive Director. A chartered civil and environmental engineer, he is passionate about the joint application of science and local knowledge to develop socially and ecologically resilient cities. Joe co-directs the global... Read More →

Mukanga Pascal

Planning Associate, Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI)

Mukanga Pascal is an urban planner by background currently working with Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI) as a Planning Associate.Pascal's interests lie in inclusive and participatory planning and design processes, and collaborative planning and development that integrates evidence-nased... Read More →

Artists

Linnea Nilsson

Research Associate, Kounkuey Design Initiative

Research Associate Engineer at the Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI).Participartory flood modelling, Nature-based Solutions and community-led development.Masters in Sustainable Technology from Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan (KTH) Stockholm.

Tuesday June 4, 2024 08:00 - 09:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

Country Kenia
Language English
Affiliation Kounkuey Design initiative, NATURA Network
Room Number Coworking - 1

08:00 EDT

Let's plan for climate resilience: a Berlin case study in Mierendorff-Insel

Berlin's first neighborhood-scale comprehensive climate adaptation plan is an iterative, year-long process that involved multiple levels of stakeholder input. Neighbors, community groups, public authorities and experts engaged in the development of Mierendorff-Insel's adaptation plan, culminating in 66 different interventions recommended for implementation across timescales. We will share our process, findings and lessons learned in this session and invite participants to exchange on their ideas and experiences.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Lisa Nieße

Urban planner from www.plan-zwei.com

Sebastian Horstkotte

Urban Conservation Strategy Advisor, The Nature Conservancy in Europe gGmbH

Ulrich Heink

Nature Conservation Office Charlottenburg Wilmersdorf

Sponsors and Partners

The Nature Conservancy

Tuesday June 4, 2024 08:00 - 09:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Berlin
Country Germany
Language English
Affiliation The Nature Conservancy in Europe
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 3

10:00 EDT

Developing policies *that work* for nature and for people: a co-creation approach

Protecting urban nature while delivering societal benefits requires appropriate policy frameworks that account for different actors’ needs and perspectives. But how can this happen in practice? Our session will explore concrete strategies for co-creating inclusive policies to govern urban nature. We will share insights from the 250 good practice policies featured in the Urban Governance Atlas and explore participants’ own experiences.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Ewa Iwaszuk

Fellow, Ecologic Institute

I am an urban nature-based solutions nerd and a podcaster. I have produced and co-hosted podcasts on urban NBS (Creating Green Cities: https://naturvation.eu/learn/podcast.html) and the European Green Deal (Green Deal - Big Deal: https://www.greendealbigdeal.eu/ )I would love to speak... Read More →

McKenna Davis

Senior Fellow, Coordinator Nature-based Solutions, Ecologic Institute

Natalia Burgos Cuevas

Sponsors and Partners

Ecologic Institute

Tuesday June 4, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Berlin
Country Germany
Language English
Affiliation Ecologic Institute
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 2

10:00 EDT

Launch of the English and Global South Edition of the "Guide for integrating nature-based solutions in urban planning".

The "Guide to include nature-based solutions in urban planning" was written in Spanish in 2020 for Colombian cities, through the support of Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung and Ecologic Institute (Germany) and Humboldt Institute in Colombia. The main goal of the guide is to guide the process of integrating an NbS approach in urban planning and providing specific recommendations for its design and implementation in the Colombian context. After 3 years of working on the implementation of the Guide in several urban contexts, providing numerous capacity-building sessions, and understanding the value of the guide in practice, the author and collaborators have decided to translate the Guide into English, communicating lessons learned and motivate its use in the global south, where it's most needed. Through this session, we expect to launch the guide in English and provide an executive session to train participants on how to use the guide.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Andrea Svensson

Carolina Figueroa

Director, SELVAR

I am an environmental entrepreneur, leading SELVAR, a company dedicated to designing and implementing nature-based solutions. I hold a master's degree in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and have studied Political Science. My focus is on promoting biodiversity... Read More →

McKenna Davis

Senior Fellow, Coordinator Nature-based Solutions, Ecologic Institute

Nadia Sitas

Tuesday June 4, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Bogotá D.C
Country Colombia
Language English
Affiliation Director of SELVAR
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 4

10:00 EDT

URBES FUTURES – Lessons learned for Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services - 10 years after BiodivERsa’s URBES project (2011-2014)

During the URBES Futures skills session for The Nature of Cities Festival in Berlin we aim at reflecting on the impact of the BiodivERsA URBES project (2011-2014) for planning for urban biodiversity and ecosystem services and what we have learned over the past 10 years.
We will invite stakeholders (urban planners, NGOs, etc.) from the cities (Barcelona, Berlin and Rotterdam) we made our URBES video’s of for their reflections on the developments over the past years and to look forward to what the future will hold for nature in our cities.
We would like to create a very interactive session that introduces briefly the URBES project as a scene-setting talk, show the videos and provides follow-up discussions as dialogues with the city stakeholders and the URBES researchers who led the stakeholder engagement processes in the cities (Berlin; Rotterdam; Barcelona). This will then lead into a joint panel discussion to exchange what we/the stakeholders have learned in the last 10 years in the cities, how progress was made and what the future of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services could be under global change. The session would be moderated by Chantal van Ham.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Chantal van Ham

Francesc Baró

Asst. Prof. of Urban Ecology, Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB)

I am an (urban) environmental scientist. My research is motivated by making cities inclusive, healthy, resilient and sustainable. In order to understand the complexity of urban social-ecological systems, I conduct applied research at the interface of urban ecology, urban geography... Read More →

Nadja Kabisch

Professor in Digital Landscape Ecology, Leibniz-Universität Hannover

Niki Frantzeskaki

Tuesday June 4, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Hannover
Country Germany
Language English
Affiliation Leibniz Universität Hannover
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 4

05:00 EDT

An agile approach for NBS, placing end-users at the heart

Focusing research projects towards actual on-the-ground impact, placing end-user needs at the heart, dealing with changing requirements, delivering useful products frequently, and keeping this all in check… Sounds almost too good, right? These are agile principles! Inspired by agile product development, we built an engine for Nature Based Solutions projects, to account for co-creation quality and fit-for-purpose at the same time.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Diana Ruiz

Researcher, Alexander von Humboldt Institute, Colombia

Dieter Mortelmans

Isabel Melo

Johannes Langemeyer

Senior Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB)

Julie Callebaut

Michael Leone

Nicolas Salmon

Director, YES Innovation

Sander Jacobs

Sara Maestre Andrés

Researcher, Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA)- Autonomous University of Barcelona

Wednesday June 5, 2024 05:00 - 06:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Envigado, Granollers
Country Belgium
Language English
Affiliation INBO
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 1

05:00 EDT

Towards a global roadmap for urban nature-based solutions

Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for the making of inclusive and green cities requires better understandings of the challenges and opportunities on the way. This starts with consolidating knowledge on what works and what does not. NATURA’s “Global Roadmap for urban NBS” initiative brings together experts who have been synthesizing existing evidence of successes and barriers of NBS from both research and practice, for each of the 7 world regions (North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, The Middle East and North Africa, Africa, Asia and Oceania).

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Erich Wolff

Research Fellow, Nanyang Technological University

Erich Wolff (he/him) is an interdisciplinary researcher and teacher working in Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand. His work delves into citizen science, nature-based solutions and flood risk reduction. His publications examine the potential of citizen science and... Read More →

Loan Diep

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, NATURA

Natalie Pierson

Lab Manager, Urban Systems Lab

Timon McPhearson

Yeowon Kim

Assistant Professor, Korea University

Sponsors and Partners

NATURA

Wednesday June 5, 2024 05:00 - 06:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City New York
Country United States
Language English, Multilingual
Affiliation NATURA
Room Number The Plane tree house - Room 4

08:00 EDT

Reimagining Coastal Governance: Multidisciplinary Approaches for a Climate-Resilient Future

A paradigm shift in the governance of the coastal region is urgently needed to address the ongoing effects of climate change. Join us for a dynamic conversation where we will envision and explore coastal governance through various disciplinary lenses. We will discuss estuaries and their governance, the interactions between land and sea, and the governance of the coastal landscape inspired by the Council of Europe Landscape Convention. Bring your ideas to challenge established coastal governance frameworks and help shape a better future for our coastal communities.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Carla Gonçalves

Ph.D. Candidate, CITTA – Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment / Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto

Hi! I have a background in landscape architecture and a master's in Regional and Urban Planning. I’m a PhD candidate in Spatial Planning at the FEUP/CITTA (citta.fe.up.pt). My research is funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, and I’m exploring how the... Read More →

Eva Schick

Nicolas Santelices Artaza

Ph.D Student in Spatial Planning, CITTA – Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment / Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto

I am interested in exploring land-sea interactions and the potential they hold for linking land and marine spatial planning. I am also interested in understanding what happens in the coastal zone, how we live there and how we as a society relate to the rich natural ecosystems that... Read More →

Wednesday June 5, 2024 08:00 - 09:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Porto
Country Portugal
Language English
Affiliation Research Centre for Territory, Transports and Environment / Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 1

08:00 EDT

This is not a painting. This is not a landscape

How should Cézanne vision of the Sainte-Victoire coincide with mine? With that of millions of people who make Sainte Victoire a shared landscape? A landscape is not a painting, albeit… what kind of painting are we talking about? In Marseille, a group of activists created a hiking trail engaging an experiential perception through a seaside-industrial landscape. By doing so, they create a painting without canvas.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

François Mancebo

Sylvie Salles

Full Professor landscape architecte, Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Paysage

Wednesday June 5, 2024 08:00 - 09:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Paris
Country France
Language English, French
Affiliation École Nationale Supérieur de Paysage - ENSP/Larep
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 2

08:00 EDT

Untangling the Interconnectedness of Biodiversity and Human Health in Urban Areas via Social-Ecological Networks

Urban areas are rich in biodiversity, but this diversity has both positive and negative impacts. In this session, experts and decision-makers will delve into the complex relationship between biodiversity and human health in urban areas through social-ecological networks. Through presentations and discussions, we aim to gain fresh insights into these complex relationships.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Aletta Bonn

Florian Ruhland

Joanna Coleman

Jonathan Jeschke

Monika Egerer

Professor, Technische Universität München

Solène Guenat

Tanja Straka

Guest Professor of Urban Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin

I am an interdisciplinary urban ecologist interested in finding solutions for ‘shared urban landscapes’ in which wildlife and people can coexist and thrive. When it comes to wildlife, my major passion are bats. When it comes to human-nature interactions in urban areas, I am interested... Read More →

Wednesday June 5, 2024 08:00 - 09:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Berlin
Country Germany
Language English
Affiliation Technische Universität Berlin
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 4

10:00 EDT

Arts of noticing: Tuning in to urban natures

With this session, we seek transformative and generative ways of knowing more-than-human urban worlds, focusing on embodied practices of walking in the city, on collecting data through audio recordings, video, and photography, and on the creative possibilities attending these modalities. This creative skills session brings together scholarship, sound, and image to show how sensory experiences are transformative.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Loren March

Postdoctoral Fellow, York University

Loren March is a queer and trans scholar, activist, and human whose work focuses broadly on queer urban ecologies and affect. Through the lens of queer theory, they examine shifting affective relations with more-than-human spaces amidst processes of parks-led redevelopment and environmental... Read More →

Wednesday June 5, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Toronto
Country Canada
Language English
Affiliation Loren March - University of Toronto, SlowPitchSound - Independent
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 2

10:00 EDT

Etno-BioLab: Participatory design of intercultural environmental educational projects

Etno-BioLab is a project designed by Ficus and ComunaCiencia to foment environmental education with an intercultural focus in schools. We work together with teachers to increase empathy towards nature, strength knowledge about nature and local and traditional practices, and design new environmental educational projects.

Since 2020, we have designed and implemented very interesting projects with teachers all around Peru. The focus of the project depends on the interest of the teachers and students, including medicinal plants, botanical pigments, agrobiodiversity, and more.

This session will introduce participants to our methodology for developing this new environmental-intercultural projects, and will include the exercise of constructing our own educational project with the participants.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Nicole Maria Heise Vigil

Wednesday June 5, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Lima
Country Peru
Language English, Spanish
Affiliation Ficus Peru
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 3

10:00 EDT

Pollinator Pathways

Across the city of Peterborough, Ontario, many citizens recognize the vital importance of pollinators to food security and biodiversity. Since 2015, a group of citizens have taken action to help pollinators by creating and promoting pollinator pathways in parks, at schools, and in boulevards and front yards. Through the community group Peterborough Pollinators, our citizen-led pollinator awareness campaign has seen over 350 registered pollinator gardens across the city. Our aim is to inspire community members across the region to take similar action towards building pollinator pathways in urban settings. I will share stories, experiences and tools in order to bring about positive environmental change as a way of animating green spaces and protecting biodiversity.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Carlotta James

Cofounder, Three Sisters Natural Landscapes

Carlotta James is an eco-landscaper, community builder, and long-distance runner. She graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours B.A. in International Relations and Political Science, and then began a career in Internet security at Psiphon where she developed circumvention... Read More →

Wednesday June 5, 2024 10:00 - 11:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Peterborough
Country Canada
Language English
Affiliation Peterborough Pollinators
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 2

03:00 EDT

Developing your GID lens - Gender, Inclusion and Diversity in action!

Explore GoGreenRoutes project's innovative approach to promoting just Nature-based Solutions (NbS)in urban environments. Discover how "seedbeds," early place-based interventions using various creative techniques such as photovoice methods, strengthen community ownership and inclusivity, with a special focus on gender, inclusion, and diversity. Join us to learn about the lessons from this project, which can guide other cities and researchers in applying an environmental justice lens to NbS and public health and ensuring equitable benefits for all. Together, let's tackle societal challenges while emphasizing the role of gender, inclusion, and diversity in NbS mainstreaming.

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Adriana Duarte

Julia Gäckle

RWTH Aachen

Kassia Rudd

Shreya Utkarsh

Sponsors and Partners

ICLEI

Thursday June 6, 2024 03:00 - 04:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Freiburg
Country Germany
Language English
Affiliation ICLEI Europe
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 4

03:00 EDT

Greenprints for resilient, biodiverse & healthy communities - Nature, People, Art and Science

Come learn about designing a greenprint in this informative and interactive session! A greenprint is a plan, tool or process that reveals the benefits provided by nature’s services. Greenprints cover different landscapes (from urban to rural) and scales (from a city to a region). The flexible and collaborative approach engages partners and uses science to identify and activate multiple-benefit nature-based solutions to address community needs. It's an art and science.

Virtual Speakers

Rob McDonald

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Carrie Schloss

Lead Scientist, Climate and Land Use, The Nature Conservancy

Carrie is a Lead Scientist in the Climate and Land programs and focuses on conservation planning and climate change resilience planning. She develops innovative approaches to spatial planning to guide policy and conservation outcomes. Carrie also leads statewide assessments on biodiversity... Read More →

Christianah Oyenuga, Ph.D.

Sustainable Cities Manager, The Nature Conservancy

Kierstyn Cox

Sustainable Communities Project Manager, The Nature Conservancy

Liz O'Donoghue

Lead, Resilient Communities Strategy, The Nature Conservancy in California

Liz O’Donoghue leads the Resilient Communities Strategy team in the Nature Conservancy of California’s Climate Program. Liz focuses on innovative mitigation approaches, greenprints, sustainable land patterns, climate resilience and transportation planning and policy. Prior to... Read More →

Sponsors and Partners

The Nature Conservancy

Thursday June 6, 2024 03:00 - 04:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City San Francisco
Country USA
Language English
Affiliation The Nature Conservancy
Room Number Coworking - 1

05:00 EDT

Demystifying Systems Thinking for Complex Urban Challenges

We will dive into the realm of systems thinking in this workshop, which is dedicated to navigating complexity and accommodate ideas to discuss suitable action for tackling urban challenges. We will get together, use mapping tools to start conversations around interconnectedness, brainstorm and advance capacities for system-level change.

This event is going to be facilitated by Luciana Maia, Purvisha Sutaria, Birte Dohlen and Anya Low. See you there!

Virtual Speakers

Luciana Maia

Director / Co-founder, futURbanos

Environmentalist & urbanist by passion, consultant, facilitator & researcher by profession and engineer by formation, Luciana is a dreamer, world citizen and life-long learner. Working with development / international cooperation for the past 15 years, she is currently involved in... Read More →

Purvisha Sutaria

Birte Dohlen

Anya Low

Community Developer, Systems Innovation Netowrk

Hi, I am Anya. Let me introduce myself here:My mission is to empower people and communities by providing systems thinking, mapping and communication methods. These skills have been developed through my degree in Design Management. I also have a multicultural and international background... Read More →

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Anya Low

Community Developer, Systems Innovation Netowrk

Thursday June 6, 2024 05:00 - 06:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City London/Berlin
Country United Kingdom/Germany
Language English, German
Affiliation Systems Innovation Network
Room Number The Nightingale House - Room 3

05:00 EDT

Evaluating nature in cities: a beginner’s guide to ecosystem service modelling

Singapore is transforming into a “city in nature”, prioritizing urban green spaces to build a healthy, climate resilient city. How can we measure the benefits provided by nature and incorporate these into urban design and planning?
This session guides participants through the use of InVEST, a suite of open-source models used to map and value services from nature.

Virtual Speakers

Leanne Tan

Research Assistant, Nanyang Technological University

Emma Ramsay

Research Fellow, Nanyang Technological University

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Emma Ramsay

Research Fellow, Nanyang Technological University

Sponsors and Partners

Nanyang Technological University

Thursday June 6, 2024 05:00 - 06:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Singapore
Country Singapore
Language English
Affiliation Nanyang Technological University
Room Number The Plane Tree House - Room 2

05:00 EDT

Urban Green Infrastructure Walk Shop

To what extent do you see nature as a stakeholder, and how does that impact the design of urban green infrastructure? We ask you to reflect on photos and consider to what extent they can be considered green infrastructure. You also visit urban green infrastructure and its species, and afterwards, ask your opinion on constructing/conserving such places in your own city. You can practice critical thinking, normative/values thinking, and collaboration/interpersonal thinking.

This session consists of: 15 minutes introduction and explanation; 15 min discussion of photos in groups; 30 minutes walk shop outside (wear suitable clothing); 15 minutes sharing and reflecting; and 10 minutes conclusions and closure, questionnaire.

Virtual Speakers

Sean Vrielink

Lecturer, University of Twente

Berlin (in person) Speakers

Sean Vrielink

Lecturer, University of Twente

Thursday June 6, 2024 05:00 - 06:30 EDT
In-Person Berlin

Skills session

City Enschede
Country Netherlands
Language English
Affiliation University Twente
Room Number Coworking - 2