Our team analyzed the data with the combined expertise of our partners and in collaboration with a local NGO dedicated to reforestation efforts. This NGO is using our scientific findings to guide practical restoration actions, including the selection of plant species that attract and support local wildlife. This partnership ensures that our research is directly applied to enhance reforestation efforts, promoting self-sustaining and resilient forest ecosystems

Given Lebanon’s unique climate and sample conditions, we tailored our field and lab methodologies to optimize DNA extraction from local animal scats. This customization involved developing protocols specific to the Mediterranean environment and sample quality, ensuring accurate results and maximizing the data yield from each sample.

This collaboration has been crucial for knowledge exchange and the adaptation of advanced metabarcoding techniques to Lebanon. The Smithsonian team provided best practices on implementing DNA-based methods in ecological studies and offered expert advice on selecting the most suitable tools and instruments for metabarcoding analysis. This partnership has strengthened the scientific foundation of our project and ensured that our approach aligns with international standards.

Three-levels of a Co-living community

By implementing a three-level urban renewal strategy of shared neighborhood, shared courtyard, and shared building, the scattered and limited spaces in the Fayuan Temple area are organized.A top-down communal living system is established to solve the difficulties of residents' relocation, outdated infrastructure, and the protection and utilization of historical buildings. 

Shared Neighborhood

We analyzed the activity paths of different groups of people in the Fayuansi neighborhoods. The clear functional division of different areas leads to lack of intersection among various groups, which invisibly forms social barriers and is not conducive to long-term development of the city.

In the shared neighborhood, the entire block is taken as a shared space and considered as a whole, with a management center as the core to lead the co-living system. By dispersing the public functions throughout the block, the daily life of the local residents in the block has been transformed into a distinctive experiential tourism product. Overlapping activities are happening in composite physical spaces, which generates continuous energy for the neighborhood.

Shared Courtyard

The current living condition inside the courtyards is barely acceptable. Illegal construction such as kitchens and bathrooms has become a common phenomenon and the importance of public spaces are severely downgraded. There is hardly any public spaces left other than basic transportation space. 

Most of the young generations have moved out. Among the remaining residents , elderly and young children are the majority as well as some short-term tenants. The continuous reduction of vitality among the neiborhood has become an attention-grabbing problem.

While improving the overall courtyard environment, priority is given to ensuring the basic living needs of residents. This project adopts a four-step (evaluation, repair, demolition, and addition) measure of courtyard renovation. As the number of vacated households increases, existing illegal buildings will be demolished and public service facilities such as shared kitchens and shared laundry rooms will be added. These facilities will be integrated with internal courtyards and public green spaces to form a pubic core for the neighborhood.

Shared House

The vacant houses in the Fayuan Temple district are all made up with "rooms" with various ownerships. Using "room" as a basic unit for renovation is an effective way to reduce the risk of conflicts regarding property ownerships, and also flexible units can better adapt to the living needs of different types of people. By analyzing the dimensions of the courtyards, a 10-12 square-meter room unit was determined as a standard renewal module. The combination of dual and multiple units enables the possibilities for various functions such as long-term apartment, youth hostel, and Café etc.

During the 2019 Beijing International Design Week, we invited the local citizens from the nearby neighborhoods to participate in the workshop of "urban additions and subtractions" in order to collect public opinions and expectations for the renovation of Fayuan Temple district.

The followings are the conclusions that we drawn from the interviews and questionnaires collected from the workshop.

• For the multiple choice question of “What do you want to add to the district?” , pocket parks were selected the most by 19.78% of the participants.
• Many of the citizens complained that the space within Hutong (the Alley) was cramped and lack of greenery.
• The inhabitants of Hutong complained that the public restrooms and markets were relatively far, it can hardly meet the daily needs.
• Many of the inhabitants expected more communication and social space within the neighborhood.
• A majority of the inhabitants deemed that the amusement facilities for children and fitness equipment for the public were not sufficient.

The visitors of Hutong claimed that the hotels and recreational facilities were not sufficient to support the basic tourism needs.

Implementation and Monitoring is the phase where the Adaptive Pathway Plan is put into action. This involves executing the identified strategies and measures while continuously tracking their effectiveness. Key components include:

1. Action Execution: Initiating the planned adaptation measures across relevant sectors.
2. Monitoring Indicators: Regularly assessing predefined indicators to gauge progress and the impacts of implemented actions.
3. Feedback Mechanisms: Establishing systems for stakeholder input and adaptive learning to inform future adjustments.
4. Iterative Refinement: Adjusting the plan based on monitoring results and evolving conditions to enhance resilience and adaptability over time.

Environmental restoration initiatives need to report to their donors and other stakeholders the impact of their investments. The TREEO Impact Dashboard is a platform where the results from implementer’s projects are showcased, thereby providing evidence from their planting and monitoring efforts which they can use for further reporting and sharing with their stakeholders. The Impact Dashboard, with single sign-on capabilities, displays the data from tree monitoring, including sequestered CO2, biodiversity monitoring, and data from the socioeconomic surveys if performed. This fosters easy reporting as well as provides interactive and clean visualisation for the implementer’s stakeholders (donors, sponsors, government agencies, and companies). Impact reporting data comes from the TREEO Cloud and can be exported and published based on each project’s needs.