University of Siena at EUGEO 2025
A group of colleagues from the University of Siena actively contributed to the 10th EUGEO Congress 2025 – Geographies of a Changing Europe, held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna from 8–11 September 2025.
They organised the session “Collaborating on Changing Cities: Citizen Science as an Urban Planning Ally”, bringing together international perspectives on how Citizen Science can be mobilised as a tool for urban planning and transformation.
Session organisers:
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Venere Stefania Sanna – Università di Siena, Italy
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Cristina Capineri – Università di Siena, Italy
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Giacomo Maria Salerno – Università di Siena, Italy
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Michela Teobaldi – Università di Siena, Italy
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Francesco Di Grazia – Università di Siena, Italy
Over the past decade, Citizen Science (CS) has rapidly expanded beyond its roots in the natural sciences, propelled by digital technologies, crowdsourcing, and new forms of data sharing. This session critically explored the role of CS in urban contexts, addressing community engagement, evidence-based policymaking, crowdsourced monitoring, co-design and co-creation, local knowledge, advocacy, and questions of equity and inclusion.
By showcasing both the opportunities and the challenges of integrating citizen science into urban governance, the Siena team highlighted the potential of CS to influence sustainable and just urban transformations.
Key words: Citizen Science, cities, evidence-based policies, participation, co-design, urban challenges.
Session 1
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On smart engagement: Questions about techno-social praxis on inclusive place-based smart city planning process for climate resilient city – Jin-Kyu Jung, University of Washington, USA
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Bi-directional connection between citizens and public authorities through citizen science – Tom Paul E Goosse, UGent, Belgium
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‘We will be protagonists’: Perspectives from the global south on Citizen-Generated Data (CGD) – Tainã Farias¹, Lalita Kraus, Tomás Donadio¹, Gilberto Viera²
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; ²The Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná
University of Bologna, Italy; ²Agenda Digitale, Emilia Romagna Region, Italy
University College Dublin, Ireland; ²Dundalk Institute of Technology -
University societal outreach and citizen science: Open challenges – Carolina Pacchi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
Session 2
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Urban gaps in small cities in the UNESCO World Heritage Site “Upper Middle Rhine Valley” – How to address urban vacancies with Citizen Science? – Jonas Birke, Bernhard Köppen, University of Koblenz, Germany
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From local challenges to regional impact: Engaging teenagers in Citizen Science in Emilia-Romagna – Catia Prandi¹, Michela De Biasio²
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Integrating citizens into digital climate health technologies: A case study of air quality monitoring platforms – Razieh Rezabeigisani, Sören Becker Philipps, Universität Marburg, Germany
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Critical reflections on the potential of citizen science in urban water quality investigations – Adwoa Serwaa Ofori¹, Jeremy Auerbach¹, Suzanne Linnane², Reza Tavangar²
Presentation slides from several contributors are available here. Additional materials will be uploaded as they are shared by the speakers.
