Driving Urban Transitions: call for European projects

Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future (DUT) aims to support transnational research and/or innovation projects addressing urban challenges as a way of helping cities to transition towards a more sustainable economy and mode of functioning. The challenges are grouped into three themes called Transition Pathways (TPs): Circular Urban Economies (CUE), the 15-minute City (15mC) and Positive Energy Districts (PED).

• The Circular Urban Economies Transition Pathway aims to support cities in becoming more resource efficient to reduce their impact on the planet. CUE encourages cities to implement circular measures that address socio-economic inequalities, promote social cohesion, and improve access to urban resources, services and green and blue spaces.
• The 15-minute City Transition Pathway aims to promote concepts, evidence and interventions that support urban mobility transitions. In order to make our cities more liveable, inclusive and climate-neutral, the focus is on 15-minute neighbourhoods that encompass different urban contexts.
• The Positive Energy Districts Transition Pathway aims to support the planning, implementation and replication of PEDs throughout Europe. As a concept, it supports the vision of future urban energy systems by both optimising energy efficiency and facilitating the generation of renewable energy − from the scale of city districts to that of individual buildings.

For each TP, three topics have been defined as focus areas for this year’s call. Since urban transition issues are intrinsically interconnected, a proposal may address several topics from one or more TPs. While projects that combine topics from more than one TP are encouraged, each project must choose one TP topic that is closest to their subject as a guide. The proposal will be evaluated on the criteria for its main TP. Cross-cutting characteristics will be considered in the assessment.

Support from the SNSF

Although Switzerland is not an associated country in Horizon Europe, Swiss-based applicants can join research consortia on equal terms with applicants from EU member states and other countries participating in the call. Together with Innosuisse, the SNSF is participating in the third call.

Swiss-based partners must meet the eligibility requirements for SNSF project funding. It is advisable to contact the SNSF Administrative Offices if this will be your first application to the Swiss National Science Foundation. Along with the application to the DUT Call Secretariat, an administrative application must be submitted to the SNSF by the same deadline. The submission deadline for pre-proposals is 14 November 2024. For further details, please refer to the DUT website.