PUJ - Prato Urban Jungle

The city of Prato faces several challenges, including poor air quality, the heat island effect[1], social exclusion, and deteriorating urban environments[2]. Prato also hosts a number of abandoned industrial sites throughout the city. In response, the Prato Urban Jungle (PUJ) project was launched with the aim to sustainably and inclusively revitalise these unused and declining urban areas by transforming them into green spaces, also referred to as urban jungles (UJs). The project also aims to establish community green hubs—open spaces that promote social interaction, cultural activities, and environmental engagement—while encouraging sustainable behaviours among the community of Prato.

[1] An urban heat island (UHI) is a metropolitan area that's a lot warmer than the rural areas surrounding it.

[2] PUJ - Prato Urban Jungle | Portico

To support these goals, PUJ implemented two innovative financial schemes (IFS): the greenApes app, which serves as an incentive mechanism to reward sustainable actions, and Prato Forest City, a crowdfunding initiative focused on supporting urban greening efforts. Together, these IFSs are designed to drive community involvement and foster more sustainable behaviours in Prato.

PUJ partnered with greenApes, member of the project’s partnership and  digital platform provider, to design an app to engage users and reward sustainable activities. The app can be accessed via smartphones and the web and aims to create incentive mechanisms, including economic rewards, to actively involve citizens in sustainable and ecological gestures. The platform encourages these behaviours through gamification^[1] and offers real-life rewards from local producers, such as organic farmers, local stores, and sustainable brands. This incentive-based engagement scheme is designed to encourage citizens to adopt eco-friendly behaviours, supporting the city’s transition to a low-carbon economy. In the second phase of the project, a more elaborate incentive scheme was developed, and citizens could donate the points (earned via their positive actions) in favour of environmental/social initiatives or interventions. Matching sponsors (municipality or private companies) would then transform the virtual points donations into actual financial contributions (e.g. supporting a reforestation).

Prato Forest City:

Treedom[1], a member of the project’s partnership, in collaboration with the Municipality of Prato, developed the Prato Forest City platform, a new strategic crowdfunding approach to urban planning. The platform enables active participation from citizens, local businesses associations, and local actors, empowering them to directly contribute to the reforestation and the maintenance of the city’s green spaces. The platform provides information on how to collaborate with the Municipality, allowing individuals to support urban forestry interventions through donations or by proposing new forestry initiatives themselves. Prato Forest City also takes into account the specific needs and challenges faced by marginalised or socio-economically disadvantaged communities, ensuring that interventions and policies are tailored to promote equitable access to green spaces.

[1] Treedom is a limited company under the Italian law, registered with the Chamber of Commerce of Florence

[1] Gamification refers to the application of game mechanics — like points and leaderboards — to everyday activities, with the goal of engaging users and changing their behaviour.

GreenApes:

Residents of Prato can download the GreenApes app on their smartphones and select their country and district, in this case Italy and Prato (see Figure 1, step 1). GreenApes users earn TWIN points by showcasing their eco-friendly actions and engaging with the app, which can then be donated in support to social/environmental projects (see Figure 1, step 2). Eco-friendly actions include walking and cycling, buying 0 km products[1], and volunteering, among. By earning these virtual TWIN points, users can donate these points in the ”Donate” section of the app (see Figure 1, step 3). Donations unlock discounts, gifts and experiences in the “Rewards” section of the app - in partnership  with local businesses (see Figure 1, step 4). In return, these partners gain increased visibility through loyalty programmes. In addition, greenApes developed custom sub-communities within the app, including a dedicated community for Estra, a private-sector energy company. This initiative aimed to engage Estra’s employees and encourage the company to contribute additional support for local reforestation projects.

Funding for the environmental and social initiatives comes from various sources. In some cases, private entities like Estra provided support, while greenApes itself invested in the model during its experimental phase. An estimated €10,000–€15,000 in donations has been generated since the implementation of the new incentive scheme.

Figure 1. Visual representation of the way the IFS works

Prato Forest City:

To support the initiative, a web portal was designed to reflect the needs of both the administration and citizens. The platform’s features enabled the Prato administration to manage interactions with local authorities, citizens, and those involved in the management of public parks in a streamlined, automated manner. Users can access and monitor the municipality’s initiatives related to urban greening, participate directly, express their commitments, and engage with proposed actions. Citizens and businesses can also explore partnership opportunities with the municipality, promote independent environmental projects for visibility, and contribute through donations to various initiatives. Additionally, the platform includes a map that outlines all urban and environmental reforestation efforts within the municipal area.

Figure 2. Visual representation of the way the IFS works

GreenApes:

The greenApes team actively participated in the project’s co-design workshops, known as Junglathons. These sessions gave citizens the chance to share their expectations for the app's features and content, while also testing the interfaces as they were being developed. The workshops aimed to identify key motivators for citizen participation and the types of content that would encourage them to use the app. Simultaneously, greenApes established partnerships with local stakeholders participating in the reward scheme. This process included formalising agreements and exploring opportunities with local shops and service providers. After a successful pilot in January 2021, the app was officially launched on May 20, 2021. Over the course of the project, greenApes maintained its engagement with citizens, refining and developing new features to ensure user satisfaction and encourage active participation.

Throughout 2021 and early 2022, efforts were made to strengthen partnerships in the community and enhance interactions between citizens and local operators, both within the app and in real life. After talking to its users, greenApes identified that cultural events and experiences were highly valued. In response, the platform expanded to include partnerships with movie theatres, events, and museums. In addition, citizens expressed a desire to give back to their city by using their points for local initiatives such as reforestation, social programmes, and supporting schools. In response, the platform underwent a redesign to integrate the most requested feature from these co-design sessions: the ability to donate to environmental and social projects. The user experience was restructured around three core activities:

• Collect: Users can earn virtual credits by engaging in sustainable actions.
• Donate: Virtual credits can be spent to support environmental and social projects.
• Rewards: Donations unlock reward boxes of increasing value and seasonal rotation.

The overall goal was to empower citizens by allowing them to see the tangible impact of their actions—not only through receiving rewards but also by contributing to the sustainability and improved quality of life in their city. This new feature helped align the efforts of PUJ with the community.

Prato Forest City:

Prato Forest City introduces an innovative participatory model that helps the City of Prato to better manage urban greening initiatives. Traditionally, urban planning is centralised and led primarily by local authorities. However, Prato Forest City sought to engage and mobilise a broader range of actors, such as local communities, businesses, and non-governmental organisations in decision-making processes, fostering a sense of ownership and shared responsibility for the city’s environmental well-being. To achieve this goal, a network of participants was established to facilitate their coordinated involvement in the municipality’s green and reforestation plans.

GreenApes:

In the case of the digital reward scheme, partnering with greenApes, which already had the necessary software and technology in place, was essential. This eliminated the need to start from scratch, making it easier to deploy and adapt to the city of Prato. However, as users began requesting new features—such as the ability to donate points—these innovations required additional procedures and customisations. This, in turn, necessitated the development of new software to meet user demands. While these updates were ultimately successful, they required extra time and funding to implement effectively.

GreenApes:

At the project’s inception, the plan was to partner with 15 local companies that could offer discounts on their products to app users. While no specific user target was set, the goal was to engage as many citizens as possible and promote eco-friendly behaviours. This engagement would be driven by awareness campaigns and ensuring that onboarded users actively participated in discussions and content sharing, guided by the digital engagement plan and gamification strategy. Additionally, greenApes aimed to provide continuous online support throughout users’ activities, including usability feedback, social media promotion of gamified activities, and community management and moderation to maintain high levels of participation and engagement.

Prato Forest City:

The project did not establish a specific target for citizen donations on the Prato Forest City platform, but received considerable donations (see section on key outputs). Instead, the project focused on developing a platform that enables the municipality of Prato to form collaboration agreements or sponsorship contracts with companies, civil society organisations, and private citizens. The intended goal was the creation of this innovative governance model for driving urban greening initiatives in the city.

GreenApes:

The total cost of implementing the incentive mechanism (digital app) during the UIA project phase (2019-2023) was €261,555. This covered three co-design workshops aimed at increasing community participation and awareness of sustainable urban living, the launch and customisation of the digital platform, its engagement strategy, community management, and the development of improvement and evaluation reports. Greenapes, the partner responsible for customising the digital platform for Prato, received €84,905.

Prato Forest City:

The total cost of launching the crowdfunding platform (Prato Forest City), the project’s new governance model aimed at creating and maintaining green areas in the city, amounted to €337,005. the design of the web platform, the establishment of a sponsorship system for urban green area maintenance, and the development of a monitoring and evaluation framework. The framework collects quantitative data on user engagement, web platform access, and analysis of research content, providing comprehensive insights into the project's impact and reach.

The budget breakdown for the two IFS is summarised in the table below.

GreenApes:

The greenApes platform operates independently of individual projects, serving as a host for multiple projects and communities. The features tailored for the municipality of Prato remain accessible on the app without incurring any costs for the municipality to keep its presence on the platform. However, if the municipality wished to extend the availability of its customised environment—including options to add new content, challenges, or rewards—the annual fee would range between €20,000 and €30,000.

GreenApes:

GreenApes (one of the Project Partners) led the app's digital platform, developing and maintaining the core platform while continuously enhancing its features based on user feedback and performance metrics. The company designed comprehensive engagement strategies to drive user adoption and retention. Meanwhile, the Municipality of Prato organised the co-design workshops (Junglathons), where the app and its features could be presented to citizens and local businesses. While the Municipality did not operationalise the app itself, it played an active role in ensuring that the platform aligned with local sustainability goals and community needs.

Prato Forest City:

The Municipality partnered with Treedom (one of the Project Partners) to develop the Prato Forest City platform, with Treedom leading its creation under the Municipality’s guidance and governance. As the responsible partner, they designed the platform web portal, while ensuring transparency in tree planting, monitoring, and maintenance processes. Their expertise encompassed creating robust data management systems, developing verification protocols, implementing user-friendly interfaces, and establishing clear guidelines for platform maintenance and updates. Treedom coordinated closely with project partners to align platform capabilities with community needs, while setting up quality control measures for tree-related data collection and reporting.

GreenApes:

• Co-creation and co-design process - this process played a crucial role in understanding the expectations of different stakeholders, allowing greenApes to tailor its platform to meet user needs. This approach ensured that the platform resonated with its target audience but also helped build acceptance among citizens, who were more likely to engage with the appap.
• Willingness of local economic players to participate was key to the IFS success, as their involvement amplified the platform’s reach.
• Past experience with similar city projects also proved valuable, as it enabled the app to adapt to local requirements without starting from scratch. This foundational platform was essential, as the project’s budget alone wouldn’t have allowed for the development of such comprehensive digital services.

Prato Forest City:

• Strong partnerships with key stakeholders. Local businesses, community groups, and civic organisations collaborated to generate widespread support and ensure broad participation. These partnerships not only provided necessary resources but also helped build trust within the community, encouraging more citizens and companies to contribute to reforestation programmes. This included direct donations or providing new ideas for green projects in the city.

GreenApes:

In areas where poverty and marginalisation were more prevalent, citizens faced pressing concerns that took precedence over the project’s sustainability goals. As a result, it was more challenging to demonstrate the importance of the initiative in these communities, as their immediate needs and perspectives differed significantly from the objectives of the scheme.

Prato Forest City:

Prato’s inclusion in the EU’s 100 climate-neutral cities played a significant role in the initiative’s success. This generated strong political support from elected officials and the municipality. It also sent a message to local businesses, encouraging them to align with the city's goals by enhancing their corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. As a result, many local organisations, including Prato Hospital, textile companies, schools, and third-sector associations, actively supported the initiative. A notable example is an art association that contributed €140,000 towards tree planting in one part of the city.

The involvement of textile SMEs, many of which were struggling to transition towards more sustainable practices, played a key role in positively influencing the Prato Forest City initiative. As Prato is a major hub for textile manufacturing – an industry known for its high levels of pollution – these businesses were motivated to engage in reforestation efforts to offset their emissions and enhance their corporate social responsibility. Their participation not only elevated the visibility of the project but also helped steer the local textile industry towards a more sustainable path, aligning industrial activities with the city’s broader environmental goals.

GreenApes:

• Attracting and engaging users through awareness campaigns, which proved both resource-intensive and costly. Engaging stakeholders who were not initially involved in the project, particularly during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, proved difficult as their priorities often differed. This made it harder to leverage these partners as key communicators and amplifiers of the scheme to engage more citizens.
• Technical complexity: The platform's evolution was largely driven by user feedback, leading to the implementation of more sophisticated features such as donation-based point systems and customisable community groups. These enhancements, though not obstacles per se, introduced additional technical complexity to the platform. Each new feature required extensive development work, including new coding frameworks and comprehensive testing protocols to maintain the app's user-friendly interface while accommodating increasingly complex functionalities. The development team successfully managed these technical challenges, ensuring that new capabilities were seamlessly integrated without compromising the platform's performance or accessibility.

Prato Forest City:

Limited participation: a significant obstacle faced by Prato Forest City was the limited participation from private citizens in both donations and submission of new forestry initiatives. To address this, the project team amplified community outreach and awareness campaigns to better engage the local population. They organised events, workshops, and informational sessions to explain the benefits of urban greening and how citizens could get involved. Furthermore, simplifying the donation process and providing more visible examples of impact—such as highlighting areas transformed through citizen contributions—helped motivate increased participation.

GreenApes:

The app has seen more than 1,000 citizens register and actively participate in a range of sustainable, including walking, cycling, engaging in circular economy practices, and visiting local markets. They have also engaged in themed challenges related to energy saving, mobility, recycling, nutrition, and waste reduction. In the app’s social section, users have shared over 6,470 good practices and testimonials, inspiring each other to adopt eco-friendly habits. For their virtuous actions, citizens have earned virtual credits, which they redeemed for rewards related to sustainable consumption and cultural experiences. Over 30 companies and organisations have participated in the reward scheme, offering more than 500 prizes and subsidies.

Prato Forest City:

The platform fosters direct interaction between citizens, businesses, schools, local associations, and the administration, facilitating transparent and straightforward contributions to enhance the city’s green areas. A memorandum of understanding was signed by key stakeholders, including the Municipality of Prato, the Ami Foundation, and Consiag Servizi, allowing the city to run fundraising campaigns, accept donations, and secure sponsorships for urban reforestation projects.

Through the Prato Forest City web platform, users can monitor municipal activities, participate in projects, and demonstrate their commitment to environmental efforts. Throughout the platforms operation, it achieved the following:

• 43 urban afforestation projects and mapped environmental interventions, including 8 projects carried out by local school students.
• 3 sites activated for the “Donate a tree” campaign in the Galcetti, Maliseti gardens, and Via Picasso areas.
• 117 donations made by citizens to contribute to urban afforestation efforts.
• 12 local companies that have contributed to the activities of Prato Forest City.
• 149 trees and 95 shrubs donated to the city by citizens and companies.
• The platform has witnessed over 72,000 interactions from more than 6,500 users

Reflection on the effectiveness/impact of the IFS in achieving the objectives of the project

The Prato Forest City web platform, designed to create a new governance model for urban green spaces, was launched successfully. While no specific targets were set for the number of donations from citizens and private companies, it achieved considerable engagement (see above). The greenApes digital platform, designed as an incentive mechanism, met its objective of encouraging citizens to participate in various eco-friendly activities. It also exceeded its engagement target, reaching 33 local companies and cultural institutions, compared to the original target of 15.

The greenApes app demonstrates innovation in promoting sustainable urban lifestyles by transforming citizen engagement through gamification and rewards. By encouraging users to participate in eco-friendly activities through its incentive mechanism, the app makes environmental responsibility accessible and enjoyable, transforming everyday actions into opportunities for positive impact. GreenApes connects users with local businesses and cultural institutions, creating a dynamic ecosystem of sustainability supporters that benefits the community economically and environmentally.

While Prato Forest City is no longer active, the greenApes App is still running, with citizens continuing to actively engage with the app. The app's reward system is designed to be sustainable, relying on user preferences to select available rewards rather than requiring monetary contributions. This approach particularly appeals to those passionate about sustainability, encouraging ongoing participation. However, maintaining custom content and tailored experiences for the city does require additional funding.

Without this support, the app cannot continue to offer exclusive features and personalised experiences, as these elements demand extra resources and work.

While there are currently no plans to scale up the greenApes app and Prato Forest City platform, both have the potential for broader application across the city and can be applied to various projects. Expanding the greenApes app could involve engaging more local businesses, fostering a wider network of participation. In addition, integrating more behavioural change actions and incentive mechanisms can encourage further participation of citizens. For the Prato Forest City platform, scaling could involve providing access to a more diverse range of reforestation projects across the city, further promoting urban greening efforts.

GreenApes:

The greenApes App offers a versatile platform that can be readily adopted by other cities, bypassing the need to build a new system from the ground up. By leveraging an existing framework focused on rewarding sustainable behaviour, the app offers a proven solution with adaptable features. Its flexible mechanics and content allow for easy customisation across various sectors, including circular economy, mobility, energy, food, and health. Additionally, the app supports initiatives in volunteering and citizen engagement. This adaptability ensures that the platform can be tailored to address specific goals and validate desired behaviour’s, aligning with the unique needs and objectives of each city. After recent development, the greenApes platform can also enable gamification and IFS on third party apps via backend and API integration. This model is meant to help cities and organisations that want to promote pre-existing or fully branded apps.

Prato Forest City:

While the crowdfunding platform is no longer active, it has the potential for wider application and to be replicated in other cities. To maximise its success, the scheme needs to be tailored to the needs and characteristics of different urban areas. This customisation would help ensure the active participation of stakeholders and effectively drive the mobilisation of resources towards sustainable urban development projects.

no Complementarity was found with other funds.

Cities looking to incorporate these IFSs into their urban projects can benefit from the following key lessons:

GreenApes app (incentive mechanism):

• Co-design and stakeholder engagement: Involving citizens, businesses, and other key stakeholders in the co-design phase fosters a sense of ownership and ensures the app is designed with the input from those who will be using it. This collaborative approach helps address local needs and expectations, as well as the potential obstacles in implementing the app.
• Regular stakeholder consultations: The platform should be adaptable and regularly updated to meet evolving user needs, ensuring their continued participation. Monitoring feedback and usage trends will help keep the app aligned with community expectations and sustain engagement.
• Political support from the municipality: Strong political backing from the local government significantly influences the success of such initiatives. Buy-in encourages broader participation, including from local businesses providing the rewards for citizens.
• Awareness campaigns: Raising awareness through campaigns is important for encouraging widespread citizen and business participation. Informing the public about the benefits of sustainable practices and the rewards they can earn for their actions helps build momentum and engagement.

Prato Forest City (crowdfunding):

• Municipality cooperation: A collaborative approach ensures that reforestation efforts are integrated into broader urban planning and development strategies. Cross-departmental coordination ensures smooth execution and helps align the goals of the project with other city initiatives, reducing silos.
• Civic engagement: Ensuring active participation from citizens is vital for the success of crowdfunding reforestation platforms. This can be achieved through awareness campaigns and educational workshops to inspire collective action.
• Access to Knowledge and Best Practices: Practitioners and decision-makers should have access to these lessons, case studies, and best practices to enhance the design and execution of future urban development programmes.
• Consortium: Forming a consortium of partners with diverse skills and approaches enhances the effectiveness of crowdfunding efforts. Different actors can offer unique resources or insights, creating a more dynamic and resilient project.
• Institutional capacity: A key factor in the success of these initiatives is ensuring that city administrations have the institutional capacity to effectively manage and monitor these projects. Capacity-building initiatives, such as training programmes for municipal staff and partnerships with experienced stakeholders can help strengthen management capabilities.

• PUJ - Prato Urban Jungle | Portico
• Documentazione - Prato Urban Jungle
• PUJ Project Application Form, Internal document, made available by UIA Permanent Secretariat
• PUJ Final Qualitative Report, Internal document, made available by UIA Permanent Secretariat
• Interview with Besnik Mehmeti, Project Manager, and Gregory Eve, CEO and co-founder of GreenApes
• Survey responses from members of the project team.