Immersive Citizen Engagement for Climate-Resilient Rural–Urban Interfaces

Cities and their surrounding rural areas face growing pressures from climate change, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss, and social inequalities. Responding to these challenges requires approaches that not only use environmental data, but also actively involve citizens and local actors in understanding problems and shaping solutions. This contribution presents a European multi-country experience that explores how immersive technologies can support citizen participation, shared understanding, and evidence-informed discussion in rural–urban contexts. 

A multi-platform Extended Reality (XR) ecosystem was developed, combining mobile Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) head-mounted display applications. These tools were designed to present complex environmental, social, and territorial information through interactive and three-dimensional experiences. Six pilot co-creation laboratories were established in Greece, Spain, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic, providing structured spaces where policymakers, citizens, and local stakeholders could jointly explore challenges and opportunities at the rural–urban interface. The XR applications were validated through hands-on workshops and semi-structured interviews, allowing participants to interact with the content and provide direct feedback. 

The immersive experiences addressed six thematic domains known to support bi-directional rural–urban synergies and the development of well-being economies: (i) circular bioeconomy, (ii) ecosystem and biodiversity restoration, (iii) improved logistics and shorter value chains, (iv) user engagement, empowerment, and territorial awareness, (v) culture, landscape, and heritage access and promotion, and (vi) enhanced mobility. By visualizing these topics in three dimensions, participants were able to better understand connections, trade-offs, and future options that are often difficult to grasp through conventional maps or reports. 

The evaluation followed a structured user-engagement methodology, integrating pre- and post-experience questionnaires directly into the AR and MR applications. This enabled the collection of comparable qualitative and quantitative feedback across all pilot sites. Results show strong educational and communicative value, with 81% of participants reporting perceived learning gains and overall usability rated at 68%.  

Overall, the findings demonstrate how immersive technologies can complement citizen science approaches by strengthening inclusion, supporting dialogue between experts and non-experts, and improving environmental literacy. The approach shows clear potential to support participatory planning and climate adaptation efforts in rural–urban areas, contributing to more inclusive and informed decision-making for resilient and sustainable territories. 

Acknowledgement: 

This research has been funded by European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under RURBANIVE project (Grant Agreement No. 101136597) (RUral-uRBAN synergies emerged in an immersIVE innovation ecosystem).