Four Stages of Co-Creation

Co-creation is a process of jointly developing solutions, products, or services by engaging a variety of stakeholders. This approach leverages the collective knowledge, insights, and creativity of a diverse group to create more effective outcomes than what might be achieved through traditional, top-down approaches. In the context of urban regeneration, this involves bringing people together to conceive, discuss, plan, design, and implement solutions that possess a substantial added value. URBiNAT’s goal of establishing ‘Healthy Corridors’ and implementing Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) that promote social cohesion is based on an inclusive and democratic co-creation process as a means to unite the community in addressing shared needs and aspirations. Towards this end, we have designed a co-creation model based on a four-stage approach: Co-diagnostic (local diagnosis), characterizing the area of intervention in territorial, social and economic terms; Co-design (the project), involving citizens in the process of building ideas and strategies, and in the design of solutions; Co-implementation (construction), inviting citizens to participate in the production of solutions, through volunteer work or exchange of working hours; Co-monitoring (evaluation), challenging citizens to convey the benefits and potential drawbacks of the implemented solutions. The roadmap for the co-creation of nature-based solutions is based on the co-creation model, which was applied in the eight cities of the project.