DUT Launch Conference Information

4-5 October 2022, The International Auditorium, Brussels

Driving Urban Transitions in times of crisis

You are invited to join the DUT Partnership’s public launch conference that addresses the dilemmas and ways forward of urban transitioning in times of cumulating crisis. The urban implications of extreme weather events and climate-related disasters require rapid responses from urban stakeholders and decision-makers. Meanwhile, in the face of the current energy crisis, the urgency of transforming the urban energy system and reconsidering the role of urban mobility and transport has become even more evident.

Join the conference and gain a better understanding of how the DUT Partnership will step up the game to enable local authorities and municipalities, business, and citizens to take action in times of crisis.

DUT Launch Conference

Preliminary agenda

4-5 October 2022

Venue: online

Zoom link day 1: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83485247037

Zoom link day 2: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83822030968

and

The International Auditorium
Blvd. Roi Albert II, 5
1210 Brussels (Belgium)

 

We welcome participants onsite and online, however, online participants will not have access to the full programme.

Onsite participants are invited to join us for dinner at:

Dinner: 4 October, 18:30 – 20:30
Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre- Cap Nord Restaurant
Avenue du Boulevard, 17. Brussels

4 October 2022, 10:00 – 17:00

10:00 – 10:30

Registration and welcome coffee

10:30 – 10: 35 Welcome and introduction to participants
10:35 – 10:50 Introduction to Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership
10:50 – 11.15 DUT – National programmes joining forces

In order to achieve the European goals, transformative R&I programmes are required that anticipate the needs of municipalities and urban stakeholders, strengthen impact creation and mainstreaming of research and innovation results and support engagement and participation of the wider national and regional urban communities. National coordination mechanisms will therefore be key to create a wider impact of DUT and exploit the full potential of the partnership and its portfolio.

• Pierre Pacaud, France
• Orsolya Küttel, Development and Innovation Office NKFIH
• Elisa Vilares, Portugal
• Elena Simion, Development and Innovation Funding UEFISCDI
11.15 – 12:00 Inspirations from JPI Urban Europe – Case presentations • Jim Segers, City Mine(d)
• Pia Laborgne, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
• Katarina Schylberg, IQS JPI Urban Europe
12:00 – 13:00 Panel I – Cities’ perspectives: Urban Transitions in and for uncertain times • Moderator: Johannes Riegler
• Tudor Drambarean, Alba Iulia Municipality
• Tom Meeuws, City of Antwerp
• Pirita Lindholm, European Research and Innovation Network
• Roman Mendle, ECLEI EU
13:00 – 14:15 Lunch break
14:15 – 15:35 Panel II – DUT’s contribution to achieve European policies: Managing (multiple) crisis seems to become our new normal and building partnerships to address these in an aligned way seems to be a promising approach. This includes having a forum for learning from good practice, inspire transformative policy making and implementation, joining forces and establishing new forms of cooperation to deliver the urgently needed action. • Moderator: Cecilia Cabello
• Rosalinde van der Vlies, DG RTD
• Torsten Klimke, DG MOVE

• Eero Ailio, DG ENER

• Veronica Manfredi, DG ENV 
• Pia Laurila, DG REGIO
• Hans-Günther Schwarz, BMK / DUT Partnership
15:35 – 16:35 Panel III: Joining forces across partnerships towards a European eco-system for urban transitions: emphasis shall be given on the opportunities and mutual interests of DUT and neighbouring partnerships to team up and drive change in the urban context. This will take place along the three Transition Pathways of DUT – Positive Energy Districts, 15-minute Cities and Circular Urban Economies – and with putting the urgency of urban transformation in the context of latest developments and crisis. • Moderator: Margit Noll
• Beatriz Gómez Miguel, Clean Energy Transitions Partnership, TRI7 Integration in the Built Environment
• Hilde Eggermont, Chairman Biodiversa +
• Bjørn Kaare Jensen, Chairman of Water4All
• Joanna Kiernicka-Allavena, NetZeroCities
• Luana Bidasca, EU Affairs Manager, EIT Urban Mobility
16:35 – 17:00 Final remarks and closure
18.30 – 20.30 Dinner at Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre – Cap Nord Restaurant
Avenue du Boulevard, 17. Brussels

 

 

5 October 2022, 9:30 – 13:40
 9:30 – 10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:40 Welcome and introduction to the Transitions Pathways parallel breakout sessions
10:40 – 12:00 Parallel breakout sessions
Positive Energy Districts

PEDs for energy security: locality and resilience
The urgency of transforming the (urban) energy system has become even more evident in the face of the current crisis. Local solutions in terms of renewable energy generation and climate action are key, and the neighbourhood focus of the PED concept combines these local solutions with a bottom-up governance including the local communities. The PED breakout session will discuss the role of PEDs in supporting urban resilience in terms of both social coherence and supply of resources. It will also discuss the necessary links between the local solutions and national/European strategies to respond to the urgency.

Hanne Mangelshots, ArchitectureWorkroom/Cities4PEDs project
• Helmut Bruckner, Sonnenplatz Großschönau GmbH/INTERACT project
• Dieter Bruggeman, VUB/TRANS-PED project
• Jo Huygh, DUSS/Abbatoir project
• Elina Sergejeva, Energy Cities
• Hans-Günther Schwarz, BMK / DUT Partnership
• Alice Detollenaere, City of Brussels
15-minute City

Speeding up mobility transitions: balancing implementation efficiency and social acceptance Facing accelerating climate change and its consequences on all sectors of society, we must – once again – discuss and reconsider the role of urban mobility and transport. While in other sectors reductions of GHG-emissions are realised, mobility emissions keep rising and today make up about 29% of EU’s total GHG-emissions. Currently, crisis events in the biosphere and energy sector become more than apparent; mobility policy on the other hand does not seem to manage bringing existing ambitious strategies and their expected impacts to the street. Therefore, we will to discuss ways to balance the supposed trade-off between individual affordability and acceptance of measures on the one side, and sustainability and emission reduction on the other, and what the DUT Partnership can and should bring in to tackle this dilemma.

 

Yannik Cornet, University of Zilina

Juliet Carpenter, University of Oxford

Tudor Drambarean, Alba Iulia Municipality

Patrick Mercier-Handisyde, European Commission

Circular Urban Economies

Adressing the urban climate endgame through working with, rather than against, nature.  This CUE breakout session is devoted to exploring the potentials and pitfalls of using circular and nature-based solutions to mitigate or avoid negative effects of climate change on the local scale in European cities.

The session displays a selected variety of ways of strengthening the resilience of urban areas in relation to climate-related disasters, and aims to address the following questions:

– What are the ‘sticking points’ of realising the potential of circular and nature-based solutions? In other words, where and why do processes get stuck?
– How can we ensure that investments in circular and nature-based solutions also contribute to a strengthening of socio-ecological justice? In other words, how to we avoid that investments leave socio-economically weaker or marginalised communities behind?
– What are we already doing that we should keep up doing, or do even more of? In other words, what existing processes, projects etc. are good enough to model a climate-resilience urban future on?

Francesc Baró, Vrije University, Brussels

Louwrens Botha, Eindhoven University of Technology

Maria João Rauch, URBACT

Eline Vigre, City of Stavanger

12:00 – 12:30 Coffee break + light lunch
12:30 – 12:55 General aspects of the DUT Call 2022: Call timeline, rules, how to apply • Paul Kuttner, FFG
• Pascal Bain, French National Research Agency
Elena Simion, Development and Innovation Funding UEFISCDI 
12:55 – 13:10 Matchmaking platform • Irene Carlos, FECYT – AEI
13.10-13.30 Questions and Answers
13:30-13:40 Closure and next steps