The Role of Urban Research. Opening, Mediating, and Facilitating Pathways in Times of Multiple Crises

The EU mission agenda objective of turning 100 carbon–neutral cities by 2050 and the DUT Transition Pathways (TP) agenda have responded to a strong need to accelerate processes of urban transition through transnational research and innovation projects with and for EU cities through actualizing a model of collaboration and partnership. The calls for Positive Energy Districts (PED), 15-minute City (15mC), and Circular Urban Economies (CUE) have seen the role of urban research at the frontline to initiate, accompany and support these processes in their various forms. The Urban Europe Research Alliance (UERA) is organizing a series of events to identify urban research's fundamental and ongoing role in the urban transition and transformation processes. Multidisciplinary, interdisciplinarity, and trans-disciplinarity research is central to these processes to initiate, moderate, and facilitate knowledge co-production and partnership creation for understanding and accelerating sustainable urban transitions through research-oriented and innovation-oriented approaches. The UERA seminar aims to discuss the new role of urban research in progressing innovation capabilities and sustainable urban transitions. It is an open platform for researchers to connect on sustainable urban transitions and transformations in broad terms. It welcomes researchers to share and disseminate their results and address conceptual ways to understand future urban transitions through empirical case studies and transdisciplinary research/urban living lab experiences. We welcome abstracts (200 words) for presentations that explore diverse transition pathways or topics that could inspire present and new future models. Substantial issues of the urban transition include the energy transition, mobility transition, and green re-generative solutions but also ecological-technological innovation, digital smart city solutions that could improve the health and livable conditions of European urban cities and citizens, and financial schemes for environmentally sustainable economic development. Process-oriented analysis of cases or action research includes transdisciplinary research (e.g. living labs and experimentation) deliberation, democratic urban governance, and participation in spatial justice for more equitable and inclusive cities. Presentations should contribute to future urban research and the development of new skills and competencies, enhancing innovation capabilities. The seminar aims to consolidate and share the vision of European urban research in a time of transition where multiple crises are occurring. Urbanization processes are the multidisciplinary arena where diverse knowledge and ways of knowing need to be explored not just to find specific solutions to reduce the impacts of carbon dioxide emissions, fostering renewable energy transition by introducing and financing technological development-oriented projects but also to think systematically about all these complex systems into simple feasible solutions with people-oriented cities and communities. A selection of final papers will be published after the conference in a Special Issue or book-dedicated series – Springer Urban Book Serie (for example) – findings and overall suggestions enhancing inputs on the transition pathways and their interactions will be the primary output. We welcome contributions and research findings of cases and experiences focused on opening, mediating, and facilitating transition pathways in times of multiple crises to shape future orientations and research gaps for more carbon-free and climate-resilient cities through energy, mobility, and green economies. Other elements are a focus point for the future as community planning and residential and commercial buildings, and public spaces to contribute to the exchange, sharing, and expanding knowledge and practical examples for planning a positive planetary sustainable urban development in the EU countries and beyond.