Aarhus
Site: Medium-size city with ~256,000 inhabitants - second largest in Denmark.
Situation: Underwent urban river restoration. After being piped for a long time, Aarhus River was resurfaced, and acts as a green and blue corridor through the city. Further flood prevention measures have been taken. NICE will contribute to the improvement of river conditions by testing nature-based solutions for river basin restoration. In addition, NICE wastewater treatment will be tested in cold winter conditions.
Solution: Two hybrid subsurface wetland pilots will be installed in Aarhus: one to treat 2 m3/d of wastewater and the second for river basin restoration of 10 m3/d.
The NICE Urban Real Labs are ideal test beds for nature-based solutions for circular urban water solutions, as they have varied geographical, environmental and socioeconomic characteristics.
The Urban Real Labs cover a wide range of climate zones: tropical and subtropical (Pereira and Turin), Mediterranean (Talavera, Algeciras, Benalmádena, Lyon, Cairo), transition climate with extreme temperatures (Madrid), oceanic (Vigo, Aarhus), and Baltic (Gdansk).
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No.101003765.