European Projects

With the aim of addressing climate vulnerability in Sub-Saharan Africa, ALBATROSS seeks to counteract migrations, biodiversity loss, and hydro-meteorological risks through evidence-based strategies. The project aims to tackle these challenges by providing innovative tools and context-specific knowledge for decision-making on adaptation strategies and policies. The goal is to support the adoption of feasible, effective, and sustainable strategies based on the needs within African policies and programs. This process involves co-creation and co-assessment with key stakeholders to identify adaptation options and plans based on local needs and existing community knowledge. Through a combination of participatory approaches and research utilizing the latest observational data and modeling techniques, ALBATROSS intends to provide robust and scientific evidence on the effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in adaptive interventions. The overarching objective is to counteract forced migrations, biodiversity loss, and hydro-meteorological risks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

CARE addresses the emerging debate on the urban commons, focusing on its impacts on urban policies and the renovation of public buildings. The research focuses on the policies of alienation and valorization of municipal real estate in European cities since the routinization of austerity restrictions following the 2008 economic crisis. In the last ten years, we have seen the growing emergence of experimental policies designed to optimize municipal public assets. Some are aimed at selling off assets, while maintaining partial control over how they will be used. Others entrust the management and, in some cases, the physical transformation of public buildings to citizen groups.

CARE is based on an interdisciplinary approach. The main methodological orientation of the project is the articulation between ethnography and spatial analysis. The research team is made up of international researchers in architecture, urban planning, sociology, geography, law and anthropology. The survey is based on a comparison of cities in France, Italy and Spain. These countries appear to be at the forefront of innovations in both austerity and the urban commons. A first panel of cities (Grenoble, Nantes, Bologna, Turin and Barcelona) has been selected according to two main criteria: the existence of tools for spatial transformation through commoning and a municipalist tradition. The data collected in these cities will produce an analysis grid that will form the basis for the creation of an inventory, tested by short immersions in a selection of other case studies in other cities. The inventory will be made up of quantitative data and visual descriptions: maps, building “biographies”, video capsules and photographs.

• CARE website

The I-CHANGE project addresses the challenge of engaging and promoting active citizen participation in climate change, sustainable development, and environmental protection within the framework of the European Green Deal. The project activities aim to activate and analyze the possibility of collective behavioral change through the active involvement of civil society in citizen science initiatives related to crucial issues such as air quality, sustainable urban transport, biodiversity, and energy consumption. Through a multidisciplinary and participatory approach, the project seeks to trigger processes that enhance the usability of data, raise awareness among citizens through the observation of environmental impacts of human activities, and develop a greater understanding of the scientific processes underlying climate change and environmental protections. The research is structured around the methodology of Living Labs, involving 6 European Living Labs and two non-European ones, to raise public awareness about the impacts of climate change in urban environments and promote behavioral changes towards a more sustainable lifestyle.

• I-CHANGE website
• I-CHANGE Environmental Footprint Dashboard
• I-CHANGE Environmental Footprint Dashboard

REMAKING project focuses on remote working (RW) and its potential impact on social, economic and spatial transformations. In light of major trends such as digital transformation and recent shocks such as the pandemic and conflict in Ukraine, REMAKING aims to understand the influence of RW on individuals, businesses and society. Through participatory research in second-tier cities and rural areas of 7 countries (Italy, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Ireland), the project aims to build place-based policies that balance the opportunities and risks of RW, improving planning, socio-economic resilience and understanding of the impacts of RW.

WELCOMING SPACES aims to search for new ways to merge two policy challenges: How to contribute to the revitalisation of shrinking areas in the EU while also offering a welcoming space for non-EU migrants to pursue their life projects?

Revitalisation refers to the processes which make shrinking regions viable again and sustainable in the sense of offering people a life they value and aspire – where they have access to different kinds of capitals and human rights. Successful revitalisation represents economic viability, social wellbeing and political stability.

Our main assumption is that revitalisation takes place through collaboration between all actors living or working in shrinking regions and can be explained through the geographic context and positionality; the institutional contexts, including policy and governance arrangements; discourse and representations, including public opinion and media; and the agency of local-migrant engagements.

Our point of departure are existing examples of ‘welcoming spaces’ which do exist in some places, but often remain invisible and dispersed in various European regions in Italy, Spain, but also Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. Such initiatives to create ‘welcoming spaces’ and initiating new types of government-citizen-migrant engagement are often citizen-based, but can equally be the outcome of initiatives by governments, grassroots organisations, NGOs, or businesses, including migrant-based/led.

Given the local scale of most of these initiatives, their dispersion in space and political sensitivity, much of what is happening around these ‘welcoming spaces’ remains under the radar. The possibilities for upscaling such initiatives are hence under-explored. In our four-year WELCOMING SPACES project, funded by the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, we will address these issues.

• Welcoming Spaces website
• Welcoming Spaces photobook

The project moves from the progressive "nocturnisation" of a several practices and activities in many European countries, which has transformed the night from a dead time-space to an economically productive and socially relevant one. The nightlife has become an important regeneration strategy for many cities, as well as an attractive factor for tourists, students and new residents. However, it also produced many conflicts, in particular about the simultaneous and antagonistic uses of urban space. These conflicts are difficult to conciliate, and urban policies oscillate between radical solutions (mandatory closures of shops and bars for example) and solutions based on mediation, without fully satisfying the different actors. The project therefore aimed to encourage the development of a European network on these issues, examining these changes and the response of local governments, with a focus on the tools and the public policies adopted to govern new needs and critical issues. The case studies, Bologna and Montpellier, were chosen as both medium-sized university cities characterized by an important nightlife. The project was implemented in collaboration with the “Paul Valery” University of Montpellier.

The GRETA project aims to improve the understanding of conditions and barriers for energy citizenship.

Energy citizenship is representing a form of active participation within energy systems that contributes in supporting local and global decarbonisation goals. It can manifest in many different ways, such as individual homeowners choosing renewable energy solutions or electric vehicles, participation in energy communities, or advocating for climate change.

But not everyone has the possibility to participate. This can be due to a range of factors, including being unaware of issues or their practical solutions; being excluded from debates and decision-making; being prevented from taking action due to lack of resource or lack of power.

Through a multinational survey and six participatory case studies, GRETA developed frameworks and models to reveal what factors affect energy citizenship. These have been used within case studies to identify problems, frame solutions and reach consensus on roadmaps for change, formalized through Energy Citizenship Contracts.

Findings throughout the project will be used to inform and encourage policymakers to advocate energy citizenship.

• GRETA website

MICADO is part of the EU Horizon 2020 research program. Specifically, the MICADO project falls within the framework of the EU's "Societal Challenge in a changing world - inclusive, innovative, and reflective societies" work program, aiming to address the integration of migrants through efficient and sustainable management models based on new technologies. The consortium, consisting of 15 partners, was coordinated by the Digital City Science at HCU Hamburg. By utilizing new technologies for data analysis and integration on one hand, and easily accessible audiovisual interfaces on the other, MICADO has provided a technological solution to facilitate the arrival and inclusion processes of migrants in local territories. These solutions were developed and tested through co-creative processes in collaboration with target groups of migrants, public administrators, and third-sector actors. The implemented technological solutions aim to support communication with and among local authorities and facilitate migrants' access to relevant information.

• MICADO website
• MICADO instruction video

The goal of OPERANDUM is to reduce hydro-meteorological risks in European territories through the co-design, co-development, and monitoring of innovative Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), activating a process of mainstreaming and social acceptance. NBS usability and best design practices based on participatory processes will be assessed through scientific trials. The project involves engagement with local stakeholders up to the international level to achieve the broadest possible acceptance of NBS and promote their dissemination as best practices. OPERANDUM is based on Open-air Laboratories (OALs), a relatively recent concept that extends the idea of Living Labs to a broader vision for natural and rural areas. In OALs across 7 European countries and 3 in China and Australia, participatory methodologies are being experimented with to construct nature-based solutions capable of addressing specific risks and assessing their effectiveness in both the natural and socio-environmental systems.

• OPERANDUM website
• OPERANDUM GeoIKP

ROCK’s aim is to develop an innovative, collaborative and systemic approach to regeneration and adaptive reuse strategies in historic city centres. By implementing a repertoire of successful heritage-led regeneration initiatives, it tested the replicability addressing the specific needs of historic city centres. The role models blueprint has been transfered to the replicators, adopting a cross disciplinary mentoring and defining common protocols and implementation guidelines.

ROCK has also delivered new ways to access and experience Cultural Heritage [CH] through environmental sound solutions, city branding, bottom-up participation via living labs, while increasing accessibility and safety in the involved areas. ICT sensors and tools supported the application of ROCK principles and the platform enabled new ways to collect and exchange data to facilitate networking, synergies and creation of CH related services.

The added value is the combination of sustainable models, integrated site management plans and associated funding mechanisms encouraging PPP, based on successful financial schemes and promoting the creation of industry-driven stakeholders’ ecosystems.

A monitoring tool is set up from the beginning, running during three additional years after the project lifetime.

Main expected impacts dealt with the achievement of effective and shared policies able to: accelerate heritage led regeneration, improve accessibility and social cohesion, increase awareness and participation in local decision making and wider civic engagement, foster businesses and new employment opportunities.

The project involved 10 Urban authorities, 5 Universities, 3 networks of enterprises, 3 networks of cities and several companies, foundations and charities.

• ROCK website