Publications

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Cities are wonderfully vibrant loci of education, employment and commerce, social encounter and recreation; they are the nerve centres of the modern global economy and as such they continue to attract migrants in search of a better quality of life for themselves and their families. Indeed with the 21st century we have entered the urban age, in which the urban half of the global population is responsible for around 80% of global economic activity. Europe is yet more urbanised (around three quarters) so that our fortune, our position on the global economic stage, is highly concentrated in our urban areas and the technology, commerce and industry and supporting service, retail and leisure sectors accommodated within them. This concentration of economic and social activity is matched by a similar concentration in the metabo¬lism of energy and materials as well as of technology and infrastructure, with consequences for raw materials depletion, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change; likewise a concentration in societal challenges. Increased disparity in income and social inequality can adversely affect social capital and cohesion and in the worst of cases lead to exclusion of access to home ownership, education, welfare and healthcare. But this concentration also brings considerable opportunities. By improving the liveability of Europe’s towns and cities we can improve the live¬ability of its urban majority; whilst improving their attractiveness to visitors and migrants. By reducing the dependency on non-renewable energy and materials of Europe’s urban areas and increasing the efficiency with which these resources are metabo¬lised, we can achieve our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets whilst demonstrating our solu¬tions, showcasing our technologies, and maintaining our economic competitiveness in a global market. But of course, understanding how to go about this, for the diversity of Europe’s cities and in their local contexts, requires an ambitious programme of research, technological development and inno¬vation. It was against this backdrop that the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe was initiated in 2011. In parallel with launching two pilot research funding calls the process of developing a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) was initiated, with a view to developing a coherent programme of research through to 2020 to: Enhance capacities and knowledge on transition towards more sustainable, resilient and liveable urban developments. Reduce the fragmentation in funding, research and urban development; to build critical mass to realise urban transitions. Increase the profile of European urban science, technological development and inno¬vation and foster exploitation of European technological, social and economic models and solutions on the global stage. In preparing the SRIA, the following have been reviewed and deliberated upon: results from dedicated stakeholder focus groups; reports relating to the urban research priorities of national research councils (the Dutch NWO, French ANR, German BMBF, Slovenian ARRS, Swedish Vinnova, UK ESRC…) and the EC-funded projects Social Polis, Urban-Nexus and SEiSMiC; responses from national research councils on the Scientific Advisory Board’s (SAB) Urban Megatrends report. From these deliberations and continuing from the conclusions of the Urban Megatrends report, it is evident that: There is a common desire to support cities in improving their attractiveness and liveability whilst improving their economic competi¬tiveness as well as their resilience to major disruptions (whether sudden or progressive). Building upon our technological advance¬ments and scientific expertise, the potential of these solutions in the urban context needs to be tested and demonstrated, demands and opportunities for future technological solutions and social innovation have to be identified, and the economic benefit of these achievements has to be exploited. There is a dearth of research relating to the rigorous definition, measurement and model¬ling of complex and interwoven factors influencing urban sustainability in the nexus of technological, economic, social, and environmental issues. Several research programmes have tackled aspects of this research challenge, but none have done so in an integrated and comprehensive way. Urban technologies and infrastructures are often perceived as a problem, rather than a solution to urban needs. Without the capacity to make our European technological prowess a part of the solution, urban infrastructures will fall short of contributing to the resource efficiency, sustainability and liveability of cities. Without the ability to define, measure and model, it is not possible to define ambitious yet realisable context-specific targets for the improvement of cities’ sustainability and liveability, nor to identify the most promising transition strategies for their achievement. In addition to these general sustainable urban transition challenges, Europe’s cities also face some specific but closely related challenges in terms of their social, economic and environmental functioning. They are: Highly differentiated in terms of the composition of their economies and of the benefits they enjoy from their local and regional agglomerations. Some are growing, stable or re-growing whilst others are declining; enhanced or exacerbated by in- and out-migration; experiencing varying degrees of social inclusion, capital and cohesion. Facing varying degrees of austerity measures, leading to a declining welfare state and increasing calls on society to fill the void through voluntary efforts. The role of social entrepreneurship, local economy and shared economy is under debate, with frameworks needed to tap the full potential of these opportunities, as well as social innovation. Subject to change due to social, economic and environmental pressures, with a corre¬sponding need to be more resilient and adap¬tive to these internal and external influences. Varied in terms of the accessibility they afford to their citizens to amenities and the connectivity of these amenities; with the less able and less well-off being particularly disadvantaged. Hosts to incredibly creative people who, if suitably empowered, could be a powerfully positive force in creating and implementing innovations to tackle challenges to improve citizens quality of life. Addressing these interrelated urban challenges in earnest requires a joined up approach, in which academic experts from different complementary disciplines work together, in concert with non-academic experts and stakeholders, to tackle them for the first time and/or in more comprehensive and innovative ways than has hitherto been the case. A combination of inter- and transdisciplinary research is called for, addressing the entire research, tech¬nology and innovation lifecycle with the ambition to position our cities as hubs of technological and social leadership and as venues for successful European economy on global markets. Following this principle and to address the above challenges, the SRIA is comprised of two comple¬mentary components: An ambitious longitudinal research programme that is focused on the devel¬opment and application of methodologies supporting the definition and measurement of urban sustainability and the establish¬ment of transition targets and strategies to achieve them. This is chronologically struc¬tured, enabling the methods and outcomes from earlier projects to inform those of later projects. Thematic priorities that are directly relevant to and inform this longitudinal programme, but which are destined to enable research teams to tackle a specific societal urban challenge in detail: Vibrancy in changing economies Welfare and finance Environmental sustainability and resilience Accessibility and connectivity Urban governance and participation Through careful programme management, backed up by investments in shared resources including urban observatories, datasets, models and living labs, this structure will ensure that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; that outcomes from research projects and the methods employed in realising them are mutually informative. This will be complemented by ongoing alignment with national and institutional research programmes, to build European urban research, technology and innovation capacity, and European solutions to address global urban challenges.