Newsletter #3: Innovation and Research
LAND has appointed Nikolas Neubert as Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) of LAND srl and Managing Director of LAND Research Lab GmbH. The decision marks a strategic move towards advanced innovation because his new role will be pivotal in driving and sustaining innovation within a company.
For over 30 years, LAND has cultivated the spirit to explore and find innovative solutions. Therefore, welcoming Nikolas to the Steering Committee of LAND has been a natural choice.
Chief Innovation Officer
Nikolas Neubert is a pioneering figure in AI-powered urban planning and digital urban development. As CIO, he will drive innovation at the intersection of #digitalization and sustainability throughout the entire LAND Group and foster new strategic partnerships. Nikolas will spearhead the efforts to explore novel approaches, technologies – especially the integration of #AI – and new business models that will advance how we approach our work.
Courtesy of Nikolas Neubert
Our mission to “Reconnect people with nature” extends into the digital realm, where new technologies transform how we perceive, experience, and promote landscapes. Digital tools enable us to expand, connect, and monitor landscapes, measuring their natural capital in size, health, and the benefits they provide. This Digital Landscape approach aims to reintroduce a human scale into our cities, tailoring solutions to community needs and regional characteristics and fostering a conscious stewardship of our natural and cultural assets.
LAND Research Lab GmbH
The challenges of our time are so significant that we can no longer wait. We feel the urgency to bring the latest findings from our #research into practice. The Research Lab, renowned for spearheading impactful ventures and research projects, will now expand its offerings as LAND Research Lab GmbH with its new headquarters in Düsseldorf to provide clients with science-based consulting services and capacity building. Nikolas assumes the position of Managing Director at LAND Research Lab GmbH, working alongside the existing team led by Andrea Balestrini, Director of Research. As a pioneer in the field of #sustainability, this brings us even closer to the municipalities and private entrepreneurs who want to consciously address climate problems with the NBS and natural capital in the new digital challenge.
Case Studies
In recent years, with the Research Lab, we have developed innovative solutions rooted in sustainability principles and aligned them with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New European Bauhaus ethos of inclusivity, aesthetics, and sustainability. A prime example is our UrbAlytics project, which harnesses artificial intelligence and satellite data to assist urban planners in mitigating the urban heat island effect and adapting to climate change challenges.
Milano city – different maps regarding temperature, water, green
Supported by funding from the European project AI4 Copernicus – Horizon 2020, UrbAlytics integrates AI with remote sensing data to inform nature-based solutions for urban resilience. Partnering with Latitudo 40, we assess the Urban Heat Island effect in pilot cities, evaluating green and blue infrastructure’s role in heat mitigation and proposing nature-based solutions. Our methodology, developed over years of research, offers a multi-scalar approach, mapping vulnerabilities and microclimatic performance across various urban contexts.
The project’s initial phases, completed in 2022, yielded significant results, including GIS workflows for vulnerability assessments, indices for microclimate evaluation, and mapping of park cool islands. This preparatory research enhances our company’s competitiveness, enabling us to offer refined consultancy services aligned with European sustainability standards.
Another example is our role in the T-Factor Project, funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 initiative, investigating the impact of temporary uses in urban regeneration. With 14 case studies worldwide, including MIND Milano Innovation District, the program explores innovative models to activate spaces and foster community engagement. Until June 2024, T-Factor aims to pioneer temporary practices that promote inclusivity and sustainability, driving dialogue and value creation among citizens, local authorities, and developers. The project prioritizes scalable strategies with measurable social, economic, and environmental benefits.
MIND, Milano Design Week 2022 by Francesca Macis
Our Research Lab will continue to drive innovation, enrich design challenges with new insights and foster knowledge-based approaches to nature-positive landscapes. The Nature-positive Landscape concept considers environmental and ecosystem dimensions of urban and rural landscapes. Our vision of radical action brings together ecosystems, cities, territories and habitats into a single entity: a hyper-connected and osmotic system. Nature-positive landscapes are spaces in which it is possible to understand the #complexity of nature, its processes, its evolving relationships and the dependencies of the human dimension on it. They are beautiful, sustainable and inclusive places for all. Therefore, any future strategy for urban governance and management should consider how to protect and preserve regional natural identity by managing these connections effectively, improve food and water security through systems such as watersheds, promote the building of infrastructure that improves connectivity between natural areas, and protect biodiversity.
That’s why we decided to go to the next level and I’m happy to hear about your experiences regarding innovation and research. If you are spearheading innovation and research in your organisation, get in touch with us.
