Last 9th April 2026, the Saint Jérôme campus of Aix-Marseille University (AMU) hosted an Open-Air Exhibition, an event organised jointly by all CARDIMED Demonstration Sites. On the French demonstration site, we hosted ‘The Spring of NBS’, a mini-festival-style open day focused on raising awareness of nature-based solutions, with a range of activities taking place on site!
All campus users were welcomed to the site from 11am to 3pm to explore numerous stands, take part in hands-on workshops and enjoy a generous buffet. The day was organised and coordinated by the French partner AMU through Joris Milleret, an intern working on the project, and Erika Ribeiri, a researcher in scientific communication at AMU.
The various stands included those runs by local nature conservation groups, an information stand for the CARDIMED project, a stand featuring books and comics about nature presented by staff from the university library, and finally a book-signing stand. But what was being signed, you might ask? Well, the “Underneath the concrete” (Sous le Beton) NBS comic book produced as part of the de-sealing project being developed on campus!
The comic consists of 16 panels explaining what NBS’s are and their roles, the work carried out on campus, and the associated scientific monitoring. This project was led by Aude Inaudi (IMSIC), who coordinated the creation of this unique format, masterfully produced by Macha Bellinghery, the comic’s illustrator and scriptwriter. All the researchers involved in the CARDIMED programme took part and featured in this publication.
The main panels of the comic book were therefore displayed during the event, and softcover copies of the comic were distributed free of charge to participants. These copies were, of course, signed by the illustrator, who was present for the event. Macha even did some spontaneous illustrations for a lucky few attendees, while chatting about the process of creating the cartoon!
A total of over 170 people attended the event, mostly students, but many researchers and university staff also gathered around the stands and during the workshops, engaging with various aspects of the NBS site.
During the buffet, ‘informal talks’ were organised by various academic staff present to raise participants’ awareness of the NBS and their roles. These informal discussions provided the ideal setting to gather feedback from site users on the work carried out, as well as their impressions of the NBS.
Many of these participants also took part in the various workshops organised throughout the day:
- A plant species inventory workshop led by Veronique Masotti (IMBE-Amu) on the use of free, publicly available tools and protocols for plant identification
- A workshop on physico-chemical soil measurements with Catherine Keller (CEREGE-Amu) to understand what soil is and its state of health
- Guided tour of the demonstration site led by Elrik Du Saillant Du Luc (SEMIDE), explaining the ins and outs of the project, detailing the stages of work and the elements selected for future projects
The event was a real success, clearly shown through positive feedback from participants, but also by the number of leaflets distributed , and the completely empty plates from the buffet full of delicious local, vegetarian food!
