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Short Abstract

Urban ReLeaf offers a case-based reflection on how citizen science and citizen observations can help shape urban policy and planning. It contributes lessons on enabling conditions and institutional mechanisms for sustained citizen science-driven policy engagement and uptake.

Abstract

Urban ReLeaf explores new pathways for integrating citizen observations into urban policy and planning across six European cities. In over a dozen citizen science campaigns on heat stress, air pollution, and greenspace perceptions, the project demonstrates how citizen observations can inform practical interventions and longer-term policy change. Each pilot city develops tailored citizen science campaigns aligned with specific planning needs, from Utrecht’s integration of wearable sensor data into its Digital Twin for heat action planning, to Dundee’s greenspace perceptions campaigns reshaping urban greenspace strategy. Urban ReLeaf addresses known obstacles to policy uptake—including data validity and institutional trust and processes to ensure data-uptake—through iterative co-design, alignment with city priorities and governance pathways for data reuse. Critically, Urban ReLeaf collaborates across organisations, city departments and community actors, enabling environmental data to travel across institutional boundaries, turning isolated observations into shared evidence for multiple policy objectives. The evidence base is further strengthened by engaging socially vulnerable and underrepresented groups, ensuring their experiences inform policies that directly affect them. This presentation reflects on lessons learned from embedding citizen science into local policy processes and empowering public authorities as citizen science actors, highlighting enabling conditions such as alignment with city objectives regarding public participation principles, planning cycles, co-ownership of data flows, and strategic use of digital tools. It also considers remaining challenges around ethics, inclusivity, and cross-sector collaboration. Furthermore, Urban ReLeaf contributes replicable governance models and a toolkit, offering insights for scaling up citizen science as a transformative force in urban policy and planning.