ExpectedOutcome:
Project results are expected to contribute to the Climate-neutral and Smart Cities Mission’s objective of climate neutrality in at least 2 of the 4 domains listed below (Mobility, Energy, Industry, Governance) and give all the following outcomes in the selected domains by the end of the project:
Mobility:
- Increase accessibility and connectivity of peri-urban areas by providing inclusive, suitable and affordable alternatives with:
- 30% increase of sustainable transport modes, providing diversity of the transport offer, especially with regards to ensuring mass-transit, including among others energy-efficient shared and/or on-demand mobility services
- 20% reduction of GHG emissions
- 20% Improvement of air quality and noise reduction
- 30% Reduction of urban road congestion whilst increasing the accessibility for both passengers and freight, and the reliability, predictability and efficiency of travel times and transport operations
- 30% reduction of human health effects due to exposure to transport pollution
- Improved transport peri-urban network performance (demand and supply) and transport connectivity through enhanced interoperability and multimodality;
- Improved access to/from commercial and health services, educational establishments, businesses, leisure and recreational facilities for the inhabitants of peri-urban areas;
- Inclusive mobility solutions that respond to the needs of all peri-urban inhabitants, irrespective of their age, gender, economic or social status, which are co-designed with all the relevant stakeholders (including, local and regional authorities, settled populations, in-migrants, transient workers, developers, entrepreneurs, etc.), and then tested and implemented in the identified peri-urban areas, which could have a geographical coverage that goes as far as the full functional urban area;
- Improved safety particularly for vulnerable road users;
- Optimize and improve the use of the existent infrastructure (following the principle of re-use and circularity);
- Integrated land-use and transport planning models and policies, which could have a geographical coverage that goes as far as the full functional urban area.
Energy:
- Improved and decarbonized energy grids with economic & social benefits to peri-urban areas thanks to the vicinity of the city;
- Business models, and technological solutions and/or guidance for setting up local energy communities, with RES and energy storage infrastructure co-financed by peri-urban dwellers, industrial actors and proceeds from energy sales or ancillary service provision (e.g. storage) to the city grid and/or heating and cooling networks. Together with electricity sharing leading to reduction of electricity prices for the community members, counter energy poverty, reduce fossil fuel use and facilitate sustainable mobility;
- Business models and/or guidance for energy generation (biomethane, electricity, biofuels) from agricultural waste, second generation bioenergy crops and technologies such as ground mounted solar or agrivoltaics in rural dominated peri-urban areas. They should include also thermal storage systems (seasonal STES, shorter term UTES etc) and thermal energy generation technologies (e.g. solar thermal, geothermal, etc.) for heating and cooling.
Industry:
- Reduction of GHG emissions (CO2, methane from waste/wastewater, fluorinated gas, refrigerants) in industries located in peri-urban areas, supporting the 55% reduction goal for 2030;
- 25% improved energy efficiency in industrial processes;
- 30% increase in deployment of strategic net-zero technologies, such as solar (PV and thermal, wind, hydrogen, batteries and storage (incl. thermal energy storage), heat pumps and geothermal energy, electrolysers and fuel cells, biogas/biomethane, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and grid technologies, notably for energy-intensive industries located in peri-urban areas;
- Reinforce the green transition of industry, through Local Green Deals, i.e., mutual agreements between city authorities and local businesses and industry and citizens associations to support the territorial sustainability agenda in the peri-urban areas;
- 25% enhanced recycling in industrial processes and materials reuse, including construction materials and demonstration and optimisation of recycling facilities for industries and processes located in peri-urban areas.
Governance:
- Capacity building (such as training courses and awareness raising activities) among local authorities, users and mobility systems providers, energy and industry stakeholders to accelerate the take-up of shared, smart and zero emission solutions and to implement their monitoring and evaluation;
- Support the development of planning and implementation skills, policy implementation/infrastructure investment impact assessment and funding aspects;
- Better integration of peri-urban areas into the current spatial/land-use/transport/landscape planning;
- Integration of development strategies with planning and regulatory documentations across different administrative levels/scales/territorial units, at least from local level to regional level).
Scope:
Peri-urban areas lie at the periphery of cities. They are the interface between rural and urban environments and are often the subject of high pressure from the urban core which results in an un-controlled and uneven urban expansion towards the rural territory often triggering environmental degradation. While dispersed and heterogenous in terms of land-occupancy, density and services and amenities distribution, the peri-urban territory integrates mutual inter-dependences within the urban-rural continuum. These can be associated with people (inwards and outwards migration or socio-demographic change) as well as with linkages and flows between a variety of rural and urban related functions and activities (ranging from industrial and recycling manufacturing, agriculture production and food processing, sanitation, waste disposal, drinking water provisions, to housing – including slums and gated communities – transport and associated infrastructure, large-scale commercial sites, and large recreational areas such as parks or forests), which juxtapose, collide and mesh in unintended and unplanned ways.
Peri-urban areas are also the subject of weaker governance structures and limited institutional capacity, which in return limits the capacity to regulate economic activities and land-use and land coverage and makes it difficult to implement effective and integrated local, regional, and functional urban area wide policies and programs. This is particularly challenging in areas that straddle multiple jurisdictions, such as urban-rural fringe.
This topic aims to foster the integration of green and smart mobility, energy, industry and governance solutions and measures within the current peri-urban development and planning practice to reduce these areas GHG emissions and to improve their liveability.
Proposals, depending on chosen domains, should investigate a sustainable and decarbonised development of the peri-urban areas by shifting from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources in mobility, energy or industry domains supported by adequate governance structures and practices based on a sustainable land-use planning and an urban expansion which integrates environmental considerations and determinants. In addition, proposals should provide European demonstration-type examples on how to sustainably integrate climate-neutral, green, and smart solutions and measures into the peri-urban/urban development and the existing transport, energy, and industrial infrastructures, to achieve long-term decarbonization impacts and necessary climate resilience. Activities and pilot demonstrations of technological nature of the proposed solutions in operational environment are expected to be at minimum TRL 7 by the end of the project. Positive, long-term impacts on social cohesion, economic development, and public perception – resulting in behavioural change and policy change – should be fostered and anticipated.