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.”
As part of the poster session, Qing Luo presented her research titled “High-Resolution Accounting for the Urban Biogenic CO₂ Emissions: Insights from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.” The study addresses a critical challenge in tackling the climate crisis: accurately quantifying biogenic CO₂ fluxes in urban areas.
Title: Exploring the Influence of Land Use on the Urban Carbonyl Sulfide Budget: A Case Study of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona / Carbonyl sulfide (OCS) is used to quantify the carbon capture potential of the biosphere because of its direct correlation with CO2 uptake during photosynthesis. However, to constrain the urban biosphere signal, it is necessary to evaluate potential anthropogenic sources.
Title: Literature review on the potential of urban waste for the fertilization of urban agriculture: A closer look at the metropolitan area of Barcelona / Urban agriculture (UA) activities are increasing in popularity and importance due to greater food demands and reductions in agricultural land, also advocating for greater local food supply and security as well as the social and community cohesion perspective.
Title: Modelling the impacts of emission changes on O3 sensitivity, atmospheric oxidation capacity, and pollution transport over the Catalonia region / Tropospheric ozone (O3) is an important surface pollutant in urban areas, and it has complex formation mechanisms that depend on the atmospheric chemistry and on meteorological factors. The severe reductions observed in anthropogenic emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic can further our understanding of the photochemical mechanisms leading to O3 formation.
Proof-of-Concept funded through URBAG project, January 2024-June 2025. What is hindering nutrient circularity in urban argiculture? The impoverished state and quality of the urban and peri-urban agricultural soil undermines nutrient circularity. Nutrient recovery is of no use unless soil is healthy!!
Title: Analysis of synoptic weather patterns of heatwave events / Heatwaves (HWs) are expected to increase both in duration and intensity in the next decades, but little is known about their synoptic and mesoscalar behavior, which is especially important in mid-latitude regions. We propose that a combination of temperature and synoptic patterns is a better way to define and understand HWs because including atmospheric circulation patterns provides information about different HW structures that can irregularly affect the territory.
Title: The potential of local food, energy, and water production systems on urban rooftops considering consumption patterns and urban morphology / The external resource dependency of urban areas results in the externalization of environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Implementing food, energy and water production systems on urban rooftops (roof mosaics) can potentially help cities become more self-sufficient but depends on the city's urban morphology.
Title: Displaying geographic variability of peri-urban agriculture environmental impacts in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona: A regionalized life cycle assessment / Peri urban agriculture (peri-UA) can supply food locally and potentially more sustainably than far-away conventional agricultural systems. It can also introduce significant environmental impacts depending on the local biophysical conditions and resources required to implement it.
Title: Sensitivity study of PBL schemes and soil initialization using the WRF-BEP-BEM model over a Mediterranean coastal city / Due to increased urbanization and global warming, cities are experiencing more heat wave (HW) events that cause extreme heat stress. To mitigate such effects, a better understanding of the impact of urban morphology on the boundary layer development is needed.