Ecological and Experimental Public Spaces of the Future: The SPIRE research project

Most of the ecological experiments conducted so far resulted in limited dissemination and replication of the research results, zero involvement of the citizen in the ecological design, and no educational value of the experiment. Considering these concerns, the aim of our study is to present a novel framework for co-designing urban landscapes polluted with heavy metals (HM). The designed experiments are located inside the city of Baia Mare (Romania), and include 5 brownfields, characterized by different levels of soil HM contamination. At the core of the urban design process stands an interdisciplinary approach which partners scientists from multiple fields related to life sciences (ecologists, agronomists, microbiologists, soil scientists) with urban designers, IT specialists, local municipalities and citizens. The revolutionary approach applied to the ecological and experimental public spaces from Baia Mare city consisted in a co-design process which combined the phytoremediation with future valorization of the biomass produced (via a local environmental bonification system), and the educational value of the ecological experiment.