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.

JUST STREETS is the project proposal from a team of 30 partners from 17 countries, including 12 cities representing more than 4,5m citizens. It aims to transform cities’ car-centered mobility narratives that take for granted that streets are for motorized traffic only, promoting walking, cycling and other active modes of mobility. JUST STREETS will be re-shaping street infrastructure and changing individual mobility behavior in 12 cities, while proactively sharing the generated “how-to-do-it” knowledge with hundreds of cities for rapid replication across Europe. In close collaboration with citizens, policy makers, experts, and interest groups the project will not only develop a new vision of spatial justice where streets become public space for all, but equally important find ways to rapidly implement changes. A strong focus is on displaying how necessary transformations in the face of climate change can (and must) successfully improve social justice, accessibility, inclusivity, and security along the way. Putting marginalized social groups, the most vulnerable mobility users, as well as those citizens at the core of JUST STREETS that have been previously underrepresented in mobility infrastructure decision-making will allow the project to create highly valuable knowhow, critical in creating better, more just, and sustainable cities for all citizens. The unique composition of the JUST STREET consortium is critical in making sure this knowledge is not only created, but subsequently shared with as many urban decision makers as possible from cities across Europe who have the means to initiate transformation in their cities. Top-level research and organizations with vast experience in the fields of mobility, urban planning, climate change, and social transformation are collaborating with the communication and dissemination expert partners who have established channels to reach and interact with tens of thousands urban decision-makers that will shape the future of cities

UNCHAIN will “break the chains”, boosting the cooperation between public authorities and logistics stakeholders. It will create a set of services for optimal and flexible urban logistics operation, management, planning and policymaking, unleashing the potential that technology and digitalisation can bring to the sustainable urban logistics and moving towards climate-neutral and smart cities. UNCHAIN will implement a standardised and reliable data exchange ecosystem supported by a public-private collaborative framework that will allow the establishment of reliable data sharing agreements, break data silos and make the urban freight data more available and accessible. Driven by the unlocked data, an innovative set of 12 urban logistics services will be implemented to optimise the allocation of urban space, improve the policy-making capacity of local authorities and optimise network management and logistics operation. With UNCHAIN, public authorities will improve their data collection capabilities and have the right tools to achieve sustainability goals. Meanwhile, for operators, having services aligned with their own and society's objectives will unlock mutually beneficial cooperation schemes, a key factor for long-term collaboration and the establishment of sustainable urban freight transport policies and operations. 10 European cities will participate in UNCHAIN activities: Madrid, Berlin and Florence as living labs; Prague, Mechelen, Madeira and Riga as follower cities, and Brest metropole, Ravenna and Alba Iulia as peer- cities supporting the early adoption of the results. Also, the well-balanced representation of the urban logistics industry, with DHL and UPS, will ensure large-scale impact and feasibility of the project results.

HANDSHAKE supports the effective take up of the integrated cycling solutions successfully developed by Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Munich, our Cycling Capitals and world-renowned cycling front runners, to our 10 highly committed Future Cycling Capitals, Bordeaux Metropole, Bruges, Cadiz, Dublin, Helsinki, Krakow, Greater Manchester, Riga, Rome and Turin. Our partner cities are combined in a composite working environment in which diverse geographical contexts, socio-economic conditions and planning cultures work toward the same goals, that is, delivering the desired cycling change. The project believes that effective transfer can happen only in the presence of: i) state-of-art body of knowledge on cycling policy and solutions; ii) sustaining transition processes; iii) motivating and supporting forms of mentorship. In HANDSHAKE this is ensured by the presence of 3 cycling planning champions, the employment of highly innovative methods brought together into a supportive and novel transfer cycle (including Bikenomics, Immersive Study Tours and Transition Management), and a mentorship programme that takes by the hand each participating city. The gathered team will cooperate to reach a number of strategic objectives: i) Inspire the creation or refinement of holistic cycling visions and concrete transfer approaches; ii) Foster the adoption of a multidisciplinary planning culture to empower the project process and consolidate future cycling policies and investments; iii) allow cycling to become a key element of urban transport; iv) Improve cycling modal share and safety; v) Leverage the potential of cycling as a critical congestion relief tool; vi) Leverage cycling to improve public health; vii) Foster economic growth. HANDSHAKE expects to improve cycling attractiveness by +52% and competitiveness by 17%, shift ca. 60.000 people to cycling with +34% in frequency of cycling use, 37,5% in accidents, traffic levels lowered by 6,34%, and CO2 savings of -3.706.000 kg CO2/year.

The SLEEPING BEAUTY project aims to rejuvenate neglected urban, peri-urban, and rural spaces across Europe through the integration of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and the core values of the New European Bauhaus (NEB). By addressing diverse climatic contexts, this initiative promotes sustainable, inclusive, and resilient communities. The project leverages NBS to enhance biodiversity, foster natural beauty, and provide multifunctional public spaces, aligning with NEB’s principles of sustainability, beauty, and inclusiveness. SLEEPING BEAUTY seeks to transform underutilized and overlooked spaces into vibrant, biodiverse areas that reconnect people with nature. This holistic, co-creative approach combines innovative design and artistic interventions, encouraging collaboration among citizens, experts, and local stakeholders. These efforts will help reshape public spaces, strengthen community ties, and foster a shared sense for caretaking of environment. By emphasizing the creative re-use and revitalization of spaces, the project will demonstrate how integrating NEB and NBS can lead to improved well-being, enhanced biodiversity, and more resilient and beautiful communities. The project’s six pilot sites will serve as showcases for replicating and scaling NBS-NEB solutions across Europe, contributing to a systemic shift in how we design, interact with, and maintain public spaces in close connection with nature and cultural heritage. The initiative promotes long-term societal transformation, focusing on strengthening human-nature relationships, cultural identity, and collective action to address pressing societal challenges like climate change. SLEEPING BEAUTY’s unique blend of artistic co-creation, sustainable spatial planning and innovation will push beyond traditional NBS approaches, setting a new gold standard for innovative, inclusive, and aesthetically compelling public spaces enabled by NEB-NBS and a new Natur-Baukultur.