Urban Climate Change Research Network for Higher Education: Climate-Resilient Design, Planning and Governance of Cities

Field: Higher education

Unipi Team Leader: Alfredo Fioritto, Department of Law

UCCRN_EDU aims at overcoming existing gaps in education on climate-resilient urban planning, design and governance by establishing synergies with leading research and teaching institutions, as well as EU and international networks with relevant expertise in policy and governance dialogue with local governments and communities to streamline climate action in cities.
The objective is to reinforce the role of UCCRN_EDU as a catalyst for educational and dissemination activities beyond the 3 years of the project, institutionalizing the coordination among participating partners and providing them with a common platform for the continuous improvement of mobility programs and cooperation with EU urban decision makers in tackling specific climate challenges.
The Partnership aims at developing an educational alliance to consolidate approaches, methods and tools developed by UCCRN_EDU community in previous and ongoing research, innovation, knowledge-sharing and capacity building activities. These will become strategic tools to form the next generation of urban climate leaders, able to navigate the complexity of the interconnected knowledge domains to foster urban climate action as hybrid and multidisciplinary new professionals, real factors of change in research, design and policymaking. The students will get the required skills to plan, design and govern climate-resilient cities, integrating urban adaptation and mitigation, and developing a holistic vision to identify and implement transformation pathways in multiple sectors, as emerging by the needs analysis framework .

The needs analysis framework outlined by the “Pathways to climate-resilient urban transformation” led in fact to the identification of specific objectives which will guide the implementation of UCCRN_EDU activities and the identification of potential areas of innovation:
- understanding urban climate systems and processes, and how urban transformation affects expected impact from extreme weather events and slow-onset changes;
- developing innovative tools for climate risk information in cities, including climate services for urban adaptation;
- advancing design and planning tools, towards science/evidence/performance-based approaches, simulations and what-if scenarios, triggering iterative co-design processes with the full range of stakeholders;
- enabling forward-looking policy environments;
- financing a just transition to climate neutrality and increased resilience in cities;
- pursuing equity and environmental justice in urban planning, design and governance;
- reflecting on data and the role of technology, including the role of ‘big data’ and IA to support adaptation and mitigation;
- exploring new models for circular economies in cities, understanding how transformative design approaches in urban and peri-urban areas can support sustainable consumption and production loops;
- climate-proofing interdependent Infrastructure Systems, focusing on the DRR/CCA potential of green/blue infrastructures, NBS and Ecosystem Services in cities, as well as on the interconnection of energy, transportation, water, waste, and housing infrastructure;
- focusing on perception, communication, and behaviour, understanding how to impact on aspects such as energy use, mobility patterns and food habits of individuals and communities, as essential input for co-designing novel solutions;
- learning from COVID-19, linking climate-proof and multi-hazard resilient cities.

In order to successfully tackle the multidisciplinary dimension of the urban climate challenge emerging from these objectives, the project involves an appropriate mix of complementary experience and expertise: climate science and urban microclimate; urban policy, legislation and governance; multi-scale climate-resilient planning and design; water-energy-food nexus; nature-based solutions, biodiversity and ecosystems; hazard/impact modelling and IT tools; multi-stakeholders/community engagement and co-design.

Coordinator: UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI FEDERICO II (Italy)

Other participants:

UNIVERSITE GUSTAVE EIFFEL (France)
SORBONNE UNIVERSITE (France)
AALBORG UNIVERSITET (Denmark)
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN (Ireland)
UNIVERSITAT INTERNACIONAL DE CATALUNYA (Spain)
UNIVERSITE DE MONS (Belgium)
UNIVERSITA' DI PISA
STICHTING IHE DELFT INSTITUTE FOR WATER EDUCATION (Netherlands)

Start date: 01-12-2021

End date: 30-11-2024

EU Grant: 399.502,00 €

Project website: https://www.uccrn.education/