Presentation at the Urban Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Seminar

On 4th June, Qing Luo presented her work at the Urban Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Seminar, focusing on the role of greenery in reducing CO2 emissions. The monthly seminar series, hosted by Penn State's Earth-Atmosphere Interactions Lab(USA), aims to foster knowledge exchange and promote international collaboration on the GHG monitoring and estimation.

New preprint: Effect of land use changes on air quality: Impacts of urbanization, urban vegetation, and agriculture

Title: Effect of land use changes on air quality: Impacts of urbanization, urban vegetation, and agriculture / Urbanization transforms natural landscapes into impervious surfaces, altering local climate and air quality. Greening strategies are increasingly adopted to mitigate these effects, yet their efficacy depends on complex interactions among land use, urban form, geography, and climate.

New publication in “Sustainable Cities and Society”

Title: Bridging local and global vulnerabilities for an integrated assessment of nature-based solutions/ Nature-based solutions (NBSs) can address socio-ecological challenges in urban environments, such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, but their local and global impacts are often not fully assessed. Stakeholder workshops serve to weigh the relative importance of impacts on vulnerabilities.

Gara Villalba presents NUTRISOIL project in “Cities on the Frontline” session hosted by the Resilient Cities Network

On May 15, 2025, Professor Gara Villalba, Full Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and PI of the URBAG project, participated in the Cities on the Frontline speaker series organized by the Resilient Cities Network. This globally attended event, now in its 2025 edition, brought together experts and urban practitioners to explore the theme: “Renaturing Cities: Restoring Ecosystems and Building Urban Resilience.”

URBAG participation at EGU25

URBAG took part in the EGU General Assembly 2025 in Vienna, where researchers presented their latest work on urban air quality, greenhouse gas fluxes, and nature-based solutions for climate adaptation. Three contributions by Qing Luo, Ricard Segura-Barrero and Svetlana Khromova showcased URBAG’s interdisciplinary approach to tackling climate challenges in urban environments.

New preprint: Assessing the Short-Term Air Quality Health Impact from Land-Use Changes During Heatwaves

Title: Assessing the Short-Term Air Quality Health Impact from Land-Use Changes During Heatwaves: A Health Impact Assessment in Barcelona Metropolitan Area / Heatwaves amplify air pollution, increasing public health risks, particularly in urban areas where land use influences the distribution of pollutants. This study examines the short-term health effects of air pollution during a two-week heatwave in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area under different land use scenarios

New publication in “Ecological Indicators”

Title: A social-ecological-technological vulnerability approach for assessing urban hydrological risks/ In the context of urban population growth and climate change, and ever greater number of people are anticipated to face severe risks associated with extreme climate events; major ones are due to stormwater-related hazards. This study offers novel understanding of the complex nature of water-related risks in urban geographies