Nordic participatory, healthy and people-centred cities (nordicPATH)

NordicPATH’s overall objective is to establish a new model for citizens’ participation and collaborative planning in Nordic countries to create healthy and people-centred cities. The project is tackling complex environmental impacts such as air quality and climate change and is developing a method specifically targeted for the governance and the conditions of the Nordic countries with potential replicability and scalability to other countries.

NordicPATH aims at smart and sustainable solutions with a citizen-oriented approach. Technology will not be considered as a goal itself, but as a tool to increase accessibility to different societal groups, to stimulate the circular exchange of knowledge among citizens, public authorities, private sector and scientists and to foster system innovation towards sustainable development.

We will apply a co-monitoring system, combining environmental measurements from official monitoring stations and citizens’ own measuring devices. NordicPATH is also promoting more inclusive planning processes, involving citizens in the co-design of solutions to tackle environmental issues together with urban planners, authorities and scientists. We will combine the use of more traditional analogue participation tools as workshops and focus groups with the use of digital tools, in particular, PPGIS (public participation Geographical Information Systems), to ensure a broad range of public involvement.

NordicPATH will develop a participation method based on community activities and identity-establishing tools. This will allow for a new participative planning culture in the Nordic countries that will not just reflect the democracy that the Nordic countries represent in the world, but also the progress towards deliberative democracy, involving and shaping important local and global issues (such as air quality) together with citizens’ input on decisions. Participation in improving urban air quality is the NordicPATH strategy towards a liveable, resilient and smart urban environments.