Trondheim, Limerick, Alba Iulia, Pisek, Sestao, Smolyan and Voru and their industry and research partners are joining forces to co-create the future we want to live in. As aspiring Lighthouse and Follower Cities, respectively, they have detailed out their ambitions into the +CityxChange proposal, which describes a structured approach on how to develop and deploy Positive Energy Blocks and Districts and scale these out as part of the Clean Energy Transition. The approach combines: Prototyping the Future through Integrated Planning and Design; Enabling the Future through Creation of a Common Energy Market; and Accelerating the Future through CommunityxChange with all stakeholders of the city. New forms of integrated spatial, social, political, economic, regulatory, legal, and technological innovations will deliver citizen observatories, innovation playgrounds, regulatory sandboxes, and Bold City Visions to engage civil society, local authorities, industry, and RTOs to scale up from PEBs to PEBs to Positive Energy Cities, supported by a distributed and modular energy system architecture that goes beyond nZEB. On top of this, the consortium will create a new energy market design coupled to consumer-driven innovation, developed in close working cooperation with national regulators, DSOs/CSOs, property developers, and local energy communities. Flexibility will be put at the core of the distributed energy system by creating new micro-grid operation, prosumer-driven Community System Operators, and new markets for peak shaving/RES trading to reduce grid investment needs and curtailment. Their aim is to realize Europe-wide deployment of Positive Energy Districts by 2050 and prepare the way for fully Positive Energy Cities.

The proposed joint UK-Ireland research in the digital humanities, will utilise novel digital twin technologies funded through the AHRC Capabilities for Collections scheme (PI: Wilson 2022-3) in order to digitally document two medieval walled towns in the South (Kilmallock) and North (Derry) of Ireland and link with historic records to reveal hidden insights into these settlements for wide-ranging use. The project aims to: 1) bring together cutting-edge digital heritage technologies (incl vehicle- and back-pack mounted mobile mapping and drone-based capture), alongside place-based humanities research to connect historic environment research with geospatially accurate 3D information of buildings and townscape heritage, including specific archaeological context for key buildings through targeted geophysical prospection (e.g. immediate surroundings of the Dominican Priory of Kilmallock that lies outside the historic town walls); and 2) raise the profile of townscape heritage assets for a variety of purposes ranging from conservation and regeneration initiatives in support of designated properties/ sites, through to education, tourism, health and wellbeing. Cutting edge 3D digital mobile mapping technologies enable accurate and rapid survey that offers a transformative step-change in safeguarding unique heritage assets for the future. The approach will also place community-focused records (maps, deeds, oral histories) and specific building interiors in context and will contribute to heritage understanding for residents and visitors alike. The scale and rapid speed of these mobile capture methods offers new potential use-cases for development of 'discovery' resources for interpretation, education, tourism and orientation of newcomers. Their accuracy serves as valuable baseline data for monitoring future change, as well as offering a lens for direct comparison with original 16th century map records for Kilmallock and Derry. The meaning and value of heritage assets are understood through their role in placemaking, and contribution to identity and community cohesion, offering benefits to health and wellbeing as well as generating economic value through tourism and regeneration. Beyond unknown/ unrecovered archaeological evidence, issues of access in a variety of forms, are key limitations for realising the value of heritage for society. The work will build from expertise at Bradford developed in previous projects, including via infrastructure investment through CapCo and knowledge exchange via the AHRC Place Programme, and via relationships established through pilot work conducted during the AHRC/IRC Digital humanities network. The proposed project aligns with aspirations of the Built Heritage Advisory Section of the National Monuments Service and the Irish Walled Towns Network of the Heritage Council to preserve the historic building fabric, with the community and building owners/ occupiers. The utility of digital twin technologies in place-based research will help to monitor and conserve heritage assets and to layer narratives and understanding of each place upon the digital twin, from the Medieval period up to present day and in this project, represents an important initiative that highlights historic, and creates new connections between North and South Ireland and England. Kilmallock and Derry are connected as members of the Irish Walled Towns Network and Bradford and Derry both have an industrial heritage linked to the textile industry. Derry was the first UK City of Culture and Bradford will be the next UK City of Culture. Transfer of knowledge and expertise between key stakeholders, including community groups and across three local authorities, will realise the potential of digital twinning between Kilmallock - Derry - Bradford in order to forge longstanding connections that offer key benefits past, present and future.

The objective of GOGREEN ROUTES is to position European cities as world ambassadors of urban sustainability. Our inspirational approach shifts the focus of NBS towards the co-benefits to multidimensional health-termed 360-Health. GOGREEN ROUTES transdisciplinary consortium will pioneer a unique approach augmenting NBS, urban design with the goal of fostering a positive human-nature relationship, flourishing nature connectedness and promoting citizen engagement through digital, educational and behavioural innovation. GOGREEN ROUTES components focus on nature-based enterprise (GROW), sustainable physical activity (MOVE), digital, cultural (FEEL) and knowledge innovation (KNOW). GOGREEN ROUTES fosters mental health and well-being by optimising human-nature interactions for all citizens. These innovations will increase the uptake and acceptability of NBS across “Cultivating Cities” (Burgas, Lahti, Limerick, Tallinn, Umea & Versailles), “Seed Cities” (Munich, Murcia region & Malta) and a “Cross-Pollination Network: (Beijing, Mexico, & Tblisi). An urban well-being lab, based on the living lab methodology will couple participatory approaches with the Big Data analyses. To advance knowledge, best practice and dissemination GOGREEN ROUTES will cluster with H2020 projects including those involving our partners (e.g. proGIreg, bluehealth2020, Connecting Nature). In addition, linking all open-sourced data to the OPPLA and Think Nature Hubs, delivering online resource (e.g. Urban 360-Health Toolkit, MOOC’s) and empowering citizens in an iterative process of co-creation will ensure perpetuation beyond the end of the project. This novel approach, coupled with the high capacity of the consortium, makes GOGREEN ROUTES an exciting prospect.