From Lyon’s futuristic riverside district to Évora’s UNESCO-protected historic centre, cities are rewriting the rules of urban energy. Facing radically different constraints, both are experimenting with ways to cut emissions and produce more energy than they consume. Their message for Europe? The challenge is real and creativity is essential - but there is no excuse for not moving towards decarbonisation

Europe's cities face the dual challenge of achieving net-zero goals while addressing a critical lack of affordable housing. Success hinges on long-term planning focused on total life-cycle costs, implementing innovative financial architectures like "blended finance", and fostering active citizen engagement to build trust and tailored solutions. 

In Copenhagen’s Christiania, residents are leading hands-on efforts to make homes warmer, greener, and fairer while in Europe communities on the margins confront energy poverty and housing inequality. Together, these grassroots solutions are testing new pathways toward a more just and sustainable urban future. 

Europe’s cities are no longer just testing ideas—they’re building models for the future. From energy-producing districts to cross-sector collaborations, they’re reshaping urban life to meet net-zero goals. But as climate deadlines loom, the real challenge is now turning successful experiments into standard urban practice. Before it’s too late 

With urban areas contributing 75% of global CO2 emissions, achieving climate neutrality demands collaboration beyond individual city limits. Differences and challenges remain significant, but from Dresden to Istanbul, pooling expertise and sharing strategies is proving crucial for fostering innovation and increasing impact.

About 47 million EU citizens can’t afford to heat their homes, with high material costs and poor financing options blocking renovations. But the impact of energy efficiency goes beyond just savings. “Public support for housing upgrades is vital to European democracy,” experts warn. “Without it, we risk losing key parts of the social fabric.”

How to monetise environmental benefits? What’s the value of reducing traffic and emissions? Economic savings and traditional methods are not enough: to calculate the profitability of smart and sustainable cities, we need to rethink the concept of business model.

Engaging rather than imposing top-down solutions. Community empowerment and trust-building make European cities smarter: Insights and innovations from a grassroots approach to urban planning.

Smart Cities: what’s in it for the citizens? Technology should empower people, but sometimes it becomes an end in itself rather than a means to an end. Cities must address problems like the digital divide, use technology to help the less privileged categories, and know when to intervene or step back to foster social values and inclusivity.

From the retrofitting of social housing blocks to the set-up of a “biodistrict”, co-designed by school pupils. When urban regeneration faces climate change from a new perspective: “Inclusive and beautiful is better. People must be proud of where they live”.

Accounting for over 70% of global CO2 emissions, cities are key in reducing our carbon footprint. But technology is not enough, experts warn, to address the new challenges. To be really “smart”, a city must take into account the main recipients of this transformation: the citizen.

Watch the Houseful Video News Release to discover how the eco-village of Cambium is adopting circular solutions. 

Turkey's tourist capital on the Mediterranean coast, Antalya, has the distinction of being surrounded by both mountains and a famous crystal-clear sea.

The vertical relationship between energy utilities and their customers is giving way to partnership and innovation, as citizens take an increasingly prominent role in the leadership of the energy transition

Post-Brexit is a challenging era for the United Kingdom's climate and environmental policy. Some experts believe that the new situation will speed up the country’s plans while others worry it will thwart them

The coronavirus emergency won’t affect the timeline of the EU’s Green Deal. This is despite some fossil-fuel-reliant countries asking the Commission to put its flagship policy on hold, even if they stand to benefit most from the Deal's Just Transition Fund

The term smart cities mainly refers to the field of technology. Some fear that the intelligent cities of the future will be massively robotic, with algorithms dominating people. Hence the need for more citizen engagement in designing the digital revolution of their urban spaces

The Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis surprised the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York by announcing the end of the use of coal by 2028 and the dismantling of plants. This is our report from Western Macedonia, the leading energy producing area of Greece, where they are analysing viable solutions to replace lignite

As Theresa May signs into law a commitment to bring the UK’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, one city in the UK is on its way to achieving this goal 22 years sooner