Urban green spaces are people's primary contact with biodiversity. Policies such as the Kunming–Montreal Framework (Target:12) and the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 call for biodiversity-inclusive urban planning that reconciles public access and use of green spaces with biodiversity conservation and the enhancement of ecological quality and connectivity. Achieving this reconciliation requires sustainability education and citizen engagement, extended to research activities themselves.

We present a grassland mowing experiment and two biodiversity monitoring activities, and preliminary outcomes, developed within an urban living lab in a public green space in Milan, Giardino Sorelle Mirabal. Alongside these activities, we gathered citizens' perceptions of restricting human access and adjusting management intensity, aimed at enhancing biodiversity and ecological quality.

Co-designed with the municipality and local stakeholders, a higher ecological quality portion of the garden was fenced off from public access, with animal presence monitored via phototraps. In the accessible area, we ran a grassland mowing-intensity experiment, also accounting for initial species richness, to quantify the benefits of low-mowing-intensity management for Milan's urban grasslands. Both areas were also monitored with an AI-powered bioacoustic sensor for automated pollinator detection. Activities were communicated to citizens during their planning and development, via public events and on-site panels in the green space.

Preliminary results of this ongoing pilot show that experimental and monitoring activities are feasible in publicly accessible urban green spaces, and are well received by engaged citizens when accompanied by clear communication of their purpose and benefits. Informal exchanges, public events and results of online surveys also suggest growing acceptance of non-human needs in green space management, though this reflects only the views of citizens willing to participate. Municipalities and local stakeholders, when involved, also showed interest in research with direct relevance to local decision-making, suggesting this approach can contribute to reconcile people's and urban nature's needs.