SMCNetZero brings together six successful urban innovation initiatives in Europe with seven (7) regional and Pan-European networks and their partners to create a Satellite Network of innovation actors to support public sector representatives from Small and Medium-sized cities (SMCs), SMEs, academia, NGOs and investors across Europe to facilitate decarbonisation in SMCs. SMCNetZero will leverage its diverse Satellite Network to gain an in-depth understanding of SMC needs and barriers; raise awareness and simplify access to existing successful initiatives supporting decarbonisation; support matchmaking between supply and demand sides by linking SMEs, researchers, and investors with SMCs; and help identify and open access to funding for enabling innovation deployment in SMCs currently underrepresented in the European innovation ecosystem. SMCNetZero is unique in that its diverse consortium partners and broad commitment from target stakeholders in the Satellite Network ensure focus in regions with less innovation capacity, with written confirmed commitment from nearly 100 innovation actors at the proposal stage, to participate in the activities - including an emphasis on largely underrepresented regions and stakeholders. SMCNetZero’s vision is to create and strengthen local innovation ecosystems’ interrelations in SMCNetZero regions through brokerage and knowledge-building activities as well as digital resources to increase capacity for planning, deploying and scaling-up of decarbonisation solutions, overall focusing on increasing the inclusivity of these innovation ecosystems and minimizing existing innovation divides.

Designing an Irresistible Circular Society (DESIRE) aims to create an alternative way forward for the built environment supporting the EU mission of ‘100 climate-neutral and smart cities’. Against seemingly insurmountable challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and resource depletion we need to rethink our approach to finding solutions. Departing from architecture, design and art we will create an open learning environment with principles, methods and guidelines to support us in designing an irresistible circular society. We will present a DESIRE lighthouse demonstrator, built on insights and learnings from on-site demonstration activities taking place on sites in Denmark, Italy, Latvia, Slovenia, and The Netherlands, encompassing various themes and scales. By this, we will set the foundation for a school of thought and practice, and establish a scaling framework for widespread learning across the EU utilizing digital infrastructure, stakeholder involvement and empowerment across a partner community of European cities, youth organisations, NGOs, academia etc. Our territorial sites form the core of DESIRE. Three themes have informed our choice of sites and partners. ‘Creating social and inclusive housing’ addresses the need for inclusive processes, ‘the power of we’, in circular transformation of social housing. ‘Reconciling cities with nature’ is about designing livable habitats and functional ecosystems from a multispecies perspective while rebalancing ‘land use’ to accommodate resource generation and biodiversity. ‘Transforming through symbiotic relationships’ focuses on how to optimize use of materials flow when rethinking urban landscapes in cities. In depts on-site demonstration activities will unfold in three Danish sites (an old asphalt factory in Herlev, a social housing neighbourhood in Taastrup, and an urban transformation project in Kalundborg) and contribute to similar demonstration activities in Amsterdam, Ljubljana, Milan, Riga and Turin.

URBREATH vision is to develop, implement, demonstrate, validate and replicate a comprehensive, community participation and NBS-driven urban revitalisation, resilience and climate neutrality paradigm that will ultimately radically enhance the social interactions, inclusion, equitability and liveability in cities. Specifically, the aim of the URBREATH project is to implement hybrid/Natural Base Solutions putting at the heart of the decision-making process the communities within a city. Advanced techniques, particularly Local Digital Twins and AI, and social innovation will facilitate the achievement of its vision. The project will have four phases: 1. Inception, 2. Development, 3. Piloting, 4. Transition. The preliminary results of a single Phase are evaluated within the following Phase so to allow for feedback before releasing the final version. The Inception phase will define the methodology to be followed for the project development and will deliver the project functional and technical requirements. The second phase will release the URBREATH technical framework, consisting of tools to manage the whole data value chain and to support end-users to collaborate on the design and creation of NBS to be used in the city/district. It will be used to monitor and take decisions on the NBS to be implemented/deployed in the Piloting phase (evidence-based decision making), that involves 4 Front Runner Cities in 4 different climatic zones: Cluj-Napoca (RO - Continental), Leuven (BE Atlantic), Madrid (ES Mediterranean), and Tallin (EE Boreal). During the Transition phase, all the information, results and lessons learnt from the previous steps will be collected and analysed to provide recommendations and foster replication activities and the uptake of project outputs at the end of its lifespan. To this aim, 5 Follower Cities are involved: Aarhus (DK), Athens (EL), Kajaani (FI), Parma (IT), Pilsen (CZ), linked to the Front Runners for climatic zone and/or dimension.