Brave astronaut on the MoonBrave astronaut on the mission

Inspired by the “mission to the moon”, the European research and innovation missions aim to deliver solutions to some of the most significant challenges facing our world. A key mission is to achieve 100 climate neutral cities in Europe by 2030.

The overall purpose of this project is to investigate and critically reflect upon how to deliver climate neutral cities in Sweden through the combination of smart integrated infrastructure and mission-oriented governance. The challenge of climate neutrality demands an urban metabolism approach and new forms of collaboration between social and technical studies to work towards transforming socio-technical systems.

The project will result in increased and deeper knowledge and understanding on 1) how to combine smart integrated infrastructure and mission-oriented governance as well as 2) how to utilise the urban metabolism approach and urban living labs to contribute to climate neutral cities.

Publications

Shabb, K., McCormick, K., Mujkic, S., Anderberg, S. (2023). Climate City Contracts? Governing towards Climate Neutral Cities. In: K. McCormick, J. Evans, Y. Voytenko Palgan, N. Frantzeskaki (Eds.) A Research Agenda for Sustainable Cities and Communities. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Henman, J., Shabb, K., McCormick, K. (2023). Slow Emergency but Urgent Action? Exploring the impact of municipal climate emergency statements in Sweden. Urban Climate. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.uclim.2023.101575

Shabb, K., McCormick, K. (2023) Achieving 100 climate neutral cities in Europe: Investigating climate city contracts in Sweden. npj Climate. Action. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-023-00035-8

Shabb, K., McCormick, K., Mujkic, S., Anderberg, S., Palm, J., Carlsson A. (2022) Launching the Mission for 100 Climate Neutral Cities in Europe: Characteristics, Critiques, and Challenges. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities , https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2021.817804

Shabb, K., McCormick, K. (2022) Can Europe’s Climate City Contracts Shake Up Urban Climate Action? TheCityFix.

News and reportage

Online Course - Cities, Climate and Change

Develop transformative skills and capacities to achieve climate neutral and sustainable cities.

Explore the online course (Lund University)

Podcast– A small step or a giant leap?

Listen to a podcast on missions, climate neutral cities and the importance of engaging citizens and stakeholders.

Listen to a podcast

City Futures – A Call For Action

Check out the agenda based on the City Futures Summit that outline four key actions on missions, cities, innovation and sustainability. Read more here (pdf)

Blog post: Navigating Missions for Climate Neutral Cities

In this article, the authors briefly present the missions approach with a focus on climate neutral cities, which raises both exciting opportunities and vexing questions.

Read more here

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