CO2PED aims to change that by empowering residents and neighbourhood associations as active agents in the transformation of their neighbourhoods. Urban energy transitions risk not reaching vulnerable neighbourhoods across Europe, so the project builds concrete tools to strengthen the urban transformative capacity of stakeholders toward developing just Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) through collective agency and co-evolutionary transitions. It addresses the urgent challenges of inclusive and equitable energy transitions in underprivileged urban neighbourhoods facing energy poverty, by integrating knowledge from urban planning, sociology, public policy, energy studies, participatory design and governance.

The project is organised around four complementary components of transformative capacity: collective inclusive visioning, bottom-up collective PED actions, co-evolution of public and community stakeholders, and co-evolution between social and technological innovation in public policy. CO2PED explores real-world co-productive processes in eight representative vulnerable neighbourhoods across Belgium, Estonia, the Netherlands and Portugal. Together with academic partners and local governments, the project supports community groups co-producing tools for collective agency by experimenting with intensive co-creation activities (CO2DIALOGUES and CO2LABs) that provide concrete insights into implementation challenges.

The network brings together leading universities from four European countries — Belgium (Ghent University), the Netherlands (Utrecht University), Portugal (University of Aveiro) and Estonia (University of Tartu) — together with the municipalities of the four countries and the Belgian Business-SME Endeavour. A significant proportion of participants are young researchers and innovators who actively engage in international exchanges, workshops and fieldwork. At the University of Aveiro, the team leads the development of tools for the co-evolution of public and community stakeholders and works directly with the municipalities of Matosinhos and Vila Nova de Gaia as key cooperation partners in the Portuguese case studies (social housing in Recare, Matosinhos and social housing in D. Manuel Martins, Gaia).

CO2PED prioritises public engagement and open-access dissemination through the CO2TOOLKIT, peer-reviewed publications, the project website, social media, international conferences and local implementation workshops. These initiatives aim to foster dialogue between researchers, policymakers and citizens. By empowering residents and neighbourhood associations as active agents and transforming institutional practices, CO2PED strengthens the capacity of municipalities and other stakeholders to facilitate more inclusive energy transition strategies. Ultimately, it strives to contribute to the implementation of the EU Urban Mission and Green Deal by creating replicable pathways for sustainable, equitable and resilient neighbourhoods across Europe.

Funding institutions Driving Urban Transitions Partnership – Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT)

Funding This project has been funded by NWO, FWO, VLAIO, FCT and ETAg under the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership, which has been co-funded by the European Union.

Research groups

• T+C

Host institutions

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Funding institutions

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Project coordinator Universiteit Gent € 1.126.550 (total project)

Funding amount € 125 000

Duration 36 months