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Chapter 4: EU Research publications on cities
This chapter is part of the report 'EU research & innovation for and with cities' that provides an overview of the main EU Research and Innovation (R&I) actions for and with cities to help them accelerate their transition towards sustainability and climate neutrality.
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Investing in European success
The European Union has recognised sustainable urbanisation as a global challenge. EU research and innovation programmes are helping cities to become inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable in Europe and other cities worldwide. This booklet showcases 23 successful EU-funded projects on urban innovation that are transforming our cities into European and global actors pursuing open research and innovation, dealing with energy and climate, urban transport, nature-based solutions, green lifestyles in resilient cities, food, social innovation, well-being, cultural heritage and urban governance. It takes a closer look at outstanding cases, among which the much-praised cities of Paris and Amsterdam, recent winners of the European Innovation Capital Award.
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The human centred city
Today, more than half of the world’s population live in urban areas. This is projected to increase to 80% by 2050. Cities and metropolitan regions are centres of encounter and economic activity, but also major contributors to global challenges. In this sense, European cities and cities around the world have a critical role to play in enabling humanity to meet the goals and targets set out by international policy frameworks such the COP21 Paris Agreement and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Habitat III New Urban Agenda.
To do this, European cities will have to take prompt action and adopt just, equitable and fair transformational strategies and solutions. This High-Level Expert Group report provides a vision for European cities of the future and recommends how EU-funded research and innovation can assist cities in their transition towards a resilient, climate-neutral, smart, inclusive, prosperous and sustainable future. Across its four core chapters, ‘People’, ‘Place’, ‘Prosperity’ and ‘Resilience’, and its two cross-cutting ones on ‘Governance’ and ‘Measurement‘, the report emphasises the need for citizens to be involved in the conceptualisation, design and execution and dissemination of any research and innovation action. Such involvement will ensure a human-centred city transition that will provide equal opportunities for citizens and leave nobody behind. The report aims to trigger discussions among policy makers, EU institutions, the scientific community and society at large, and inspire strategic planning and investments within Horizon Europe and its dedicated Mission on ‘Climate-neutral and Smart Cities’.
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Innovating cities policy report for EU R&I sustainable urban development
Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this is expected to rise to just over 80 % by 2050 (Source: United Nations (World Urbanisation Prospects) and Eurostat). In addition to demographic growth, cities and metropolitan regions are centres of economic activities and increased resource consumption. Cities are the home of complex, inter-linked challenges related to climate change, pollution, energy efficiency, urban mobility, water, waste, food and resource efficiency, health and well-being and social innovation. Cities are key actors for meeting the targets set out by international frameworks.
For 30 years, Europe has been investing in transnational EU research and innovation on urban-systems-related issues, with providing financing from the Framework Programmes FP5, FP6 and FP7 of €2.8 billion and even in Horizon 2020: €3.1 billion. Horizon Europe plans to continue similarly to invest in these issues. For this, we need to take stock of where we are and what are the options we have for the future. This report capitalizes on 30 years of successful EU-funded research on sustainable urban development. It relies on the analysis of a critical mass of inspiring knowledge, ideas and best practices coming from 41 projects funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) across the different thematic priorities. It showcases and provides an EU-wide evidence base of the outstanding contributions of EU funded research and innovation in meeting urban societal challenges, notably those supported by the FP7 Research Framework Programme which deploy a citizen-centric, systemic and integrated analysis of the urban ecosystem.
The report highlights the need for integrated policy research solutions to the societal challenges that generate policy benefits and co-benefits simultaneously delivering socio-economic and environmental political objectives for regional, local city authorities, civil society, political representatives, the private sector and industry. The report spreads expertise across Europe and paves the way to future European cities being climate-proof, resource-efficient, smart as well as more resilient, healthy, inclusive, prosperous, safe and sustainable and contributes to the European Green Deal to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent.
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What Nature-Based Solutions can do for us
Between November 2019 and May 2020, six independent experts undertook the analysis of EU-funded projects in the area of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in order to assess their impact and valorise their results. Their work highlights the added value and policy relevance of EU-funded NBS projects. Working closely with European Commission expert staff and supported by the network of Horizon 2020-funded NBS projects, the experts have produced six sectorial reports and a final consolidated report.
EU research and innovation projects were scanned for results pertaining to key areas such as biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation (including flooding), water quality, air quality and microclimate, and sustainable communities. The reports contextualise the reviewed projects by presenting the state of the art in the sector, including policy developments, research results and key lessons learnt. The resulting evidence base includes figures and monetary values showing the relative cost-effectiveness of NBS and exploring how they support policy implementation.
The reports also identify knowledge gaps and propose policy recommendations to strengthen strategies and actions for the uptake of NBS, in order to deliver targeted and efficient interventions that can contribute to solving societal challenges in Europe and beyond.
Sectorial reports:
Biodiversity – Out now
This report presents evidence on NBS benefits and successes in the domain of biodiversity and highlights how NBS can help citizens restore a harmonious relationship with the planet, thus contributing to societal transformation towards sustainability in Europe and beyond.
Climate mitigation – Out now
This report explores how Nature-based Solutions can contribute to climate mitigation through storing and sequestering carbon and through reducing energy demand.
Sustainable communities – Out now
This report examines the contribution of Nature-based Solutions to transformative action for sustainable communities. It examines how such initiatives enable participation and inclusion in the design and implementation of sustainability at the local level.
Microclimate regulation and air quality
Air quality and temperature significantly affect human health, especially in urban areas. This report highlights different kinds of Nature-based Solutions that help improve air quality and regulate microclimate and that present a combination of other environmental and social benefits, including mental health.
Improving water quality and waterbody conditions
This report presents evidence on Nature-based Solutions improving water quality and waterbody conditions, and highlights how NBS can support water policy implementation.
Flood mitigation and coastal resilience
This report presents evidence on the contribution of Nature-based Solutions to flood mitigation and coastal resilience and highlights how NBS can support flood-related policy implementation.
Final report:
Nature-based Solutions - State of the Art in EU-funded Projects
This report summarises outcomes from the EC individual expert reports delivered through its ‘Valorisation of NBS Projects’ initiative. EU
research and innovation projects were scanned for results pertaining to key areas such as biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation
(including flooding), water quality, air quality and microclimate, sustainable communities, innovative governance and business models, and market challenges and solutions.
Source: What Nature-Based Solutions can do for us - European Commission
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Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies
The EU has developed a thorough discourse on cities and their development in the past decades. Since the end of the '90s, periodical meetings of ministers responsible for urban development (e.g. Lille, 2000; Bristol 2005; Leipzig 2007; Toledo, 2010; Amsterdam, 2016) led to the consolidation of an 'EU perspective' on the urban question (‘urban acquis’) that can be translated in a EU approach to urban development. This approach has been refined over the years through its implementation on the ground, thanks to the urban initiatives promoted by the EU through its Cohesion Policy and other specifically urban-oriented initiatives.
The European Parliament resolution of 9 September 2015 on the urban dimension of EU policies (2014/2213(INI)) underlines the need of systematising and analysing 'all available data and shared conceptual frameworks (‘urban acquis’) in order to prevent duplication and inconsistencies and provide a clear definition of integrated Sustainable Urban Development and thus identify the common coherent and transparent EU objectives in this area'. In fact, still the EU approach to urban development when implemented on the ground, leads to different interpretations, depending on local planning cultures, as well as on the wide typology of actors involved in its implementation. Moreover, there are some methodological aspects which need clarification and strengthening, with the aim to provide better and clearer guidance for post 2020.
In line with that, the Handbook of Sustainable Urban Development Strategies is aimed at developing a methodological support to augment the knowledge on how to best implement integrated and place-based urban strategies under the Cohesion Policy. In particular it refers to Sustainable Urban Development (SUD) as supported by the European Regional Development Fund during the current programming period (2014-2020) and the upcoming one (2021-2027). In this context the Handbook is conceived as soft guidelines which complement official regulations, without being prescriptive. In fact, it is conceived as a policy learning tool, flexible and adaptable to the needs which result from the different territorial and administrative contexts. The Handbook does not provide a quick fix approach but suggestions, through concrete examples and reference to existing tools and guides, on how to tackle key challenges during the process of strategy-making. The Handbook targets Local Authorities, Managing Authorities and all the other relevant stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of strategies.
The Handbook is structured in six chapters, each one addressing one of the building blocks of the EU approach to Sustainable Urban Development as follows: 1. Strategic dimension; 2. Territorial focus; 3. Governance; 4. Cross-sectoral integration; 5. Funding and finance; 6. Monitoring.
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The Future of Cities
This report is an initiative of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), the science and knowledge service of the European Commission (EC), and supported by the Commission's Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). It highlights drivers shaping the urban future, identifying both the key challenges cities will have to address and the strengths they can capitalise on to proactively build their desired futures.
The main aim of this report is to raise open questions and steer discussions on what the future of cities can, and should be, both within the science and policymaker communities. While addressing mainly European cities, examples from other world regions are also given since many challenges and solutions have a global relevance. The report is particularly novel in two ways. First, it was developed in an inclusive manner – close collaboration with the EC’s Community of Practice on Cities (CoP-CITIES) provided insights from the broader research community and city networks, including individual municipalities, as well as Commission services and international organisations. It was also extensively reviewed by an Editorial Board.
Secondly, the report is supported by an online ‘living’ platform which will host future updates, including additional analyses, discussions, case studies, comments and interactive maps that go beyond the scope of the current version of the report. Steered by the JRC, the platform will offer a permanent virtual space to the research, practice and policymaking community for sharing and accumulating knowledge on the future of cities. This report is produced in the framework of the EC Knowledge Centre for Territorial Policies and is part of a wider series of flagship Science for Policy reports by the JRC, investigating future perspectives concerning Artificial Intelligence, the Future of Road Transport, Resilience, Cybersecurity and Fairness Interactive online platform.
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European handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews
The European Handbook for SDG Voluntary Local Reviews offers to policy makers, researchers and practitioners an inspirational framework to set up Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs). VLRs are a fundamental instrument to monitor progresses and sustain the transformative and inclusive action of local actors towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in general, and competitive sustainability in particular. The Handbook provides key examples of official and experimental indicators useful to set up an effective SDG local monitoring system specifically targeted for European cities. Per each Goal, the Handbook highlights examples of harmonised and locally collected indicators so that local actors can both benchmark themselves with other cities and monitor their own specific needs and challenges.
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Who owns the city?
This report resumes the main findings from Citown, an exploratory research activity on the financialisation of housing in EU cities. The study follows indications that over the past years investors have been increasingly active on urban housing markets, using housing as a vehicle for wealth and investment, rather than considering it a social good. This development is assumed to have a negative effect on housing affordability, especially for the lower and middle classes. This study serves to get a better understanding of housing financialisation through an open–minded and investigative approach, providing stepping- stones for future research. The study includes three main research components (seven city case studies; advanced analyses of Amsterdam housing data; descriptive data on institutional investment in multifamily property) supported by two experts workshops. Most findings confirm the assumption that housing financialisation negatively impacts housing affordability. At the same time, it becomes clear that causality is complex, pointing to the housing system as a complex myriad of factors that either directly or indirectly influence and reinforce each other. The study further indicates that to better understand housing financialisation across EU cities, as well as its consequences, more (harmonised) data are needed.
Source: Van Heerden, S, Barranco, R., and C. Lavalle (eds), Who Owns the city? Exploratory Research Activity on the financialisation of housing in EU cities., EUR 30224 EN, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2020, ISBN 978-92-76-18956-5, doi:10.2760/07168, JRC120776
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Ageing in regions and cities
This report presents an experimental exercise in which the LUISA population distribution method has been extended to break down its local population distribution outcomes by broad age class. To do so, elaborate methods have been set up to disaggregate observed age class distribution data to fine spatial resolution raster data; to account for age-class specific demographic expectations; and to model changes in population composition while constrained by LUISA’s local population results and expected age class sizes at the regional level. This report describes the developed methodology and summarizes the obtained results.
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Virtual session "The City Science Initiative, strengthening the role of science in urban settings in the context of the EU green deal"
Last October 13th (2021), as part of the European Week of Regions and Cities, the City Science Initiative organized the virtual session "The City Science Initiative, strengthening the role of science in urban settings in the context of the EU green deal". Deputy Directors General from JRC, DG R&I and DG REGIO, the mayor of Rijeka and representatives from the cities taking part of the City Science Initiative participated in the session. This document summarizes the main highlights from each intervention and gives an overview of what was discussed in the session.
Full information about the virtual session can be found here.
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Cities and urban development
The Commission is working together with cities to ensure a good quality of life. See how the Commission helps cities to grow sustainably through sharing of knowledge, funding, and other urban policies and initiatives.
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Innovating cities
The EU's innovating cities initiative promotes an integrated vision of innovative urban planning and design that involves citizens as 'city makers' who innovate and participate in governance and policymaking. Cities are nodes that bring together global networks of skills, knowledge, capital, public and private value. This makes cities critical to innovation.
The EU approaches research and innovation on smart and sustainable cities in an integrated way. This helps:
- better co-ordinate, streamline and focus the existing and future research and innovation activities and initiatives on urban issues across Horizon 2020 and future framework programmes
- enable a sustainable and systemic approach to innovation, by fostering co-creation, co-development and co-implementation with different players in EU cities and worldwide
- develop new business and governance models, mobilise new partnerships and investments, and foster market uptake of visionary solutions and approaches to enhance urban resilience
- provide the knowledge and evidence base to inform decision on investments in key infrastructure for cities and urban regions as well as to inform policy-making, planning and land use management
The initiative supports cities in putting open innovation into practice and in replicating innovative multi-stakeholder solutions across cities.
Sharing solutions is crucial to accelerating the transition to sustainable, climate neutral, resilient, safe, healthy, and socially innovative cities.
What areas does it cover?
Research and innovation can deliver holistic and innovative solutions across a broad range of interlinked areas. These areas include
- climate-resilient urban areas
- clean energy and energy efficiency in smart cities
- urban mobility
- culture driven urban regeneration and adaptive reuse
- health and wellbeing
- innovative human-centred urban planning and design
- social innovation and inclusion
- circular economy in cities
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data.europa.eu
The official portal for European data.
Click here to see their datasets.
Source: Datasets - data.europa.eu