BiodiveCITY

The BIODIVECITY project will explore the relationships between Urban Green Spaces (UGS) and blood-feeding arthropod biodiversity, as well as their implications for vector-borne disease transmission. We have formed a unique, multidisciplinary consortium (with partners from The Netherlands, France, Spain and Morocco) within which we are able to make comparisons across major urban centers in Europe. The consortium will develop a harmonized protocol for standardized ecological surveys, organize participatory workshops and citizen science activities to collect evidence on the impacts of urban greening on vector-borne disease risks and collaboratively develop policy guidelines and recommendations for mitigating potential disease risks. To address the multiple facets of urban greening, urban planners, policy makers, health stakeholders’ representatives, and civil society will be involved in the project. This will allow knowledge exchange and facilitate mutual learning, thereby ensuring the unique ability to derive transnational conclusions and policy recommendations.