DUT - Driving Urban Transitions

DUT - Driving Urban Transitions, is a European Partnership under the aegis of the EU programme for funding research and innovation Horizon Europe (2021-2027), formed at the initiative of the European Commission, member countries and national organizations, which aims to tackle the challenges of urban transition, involving regional, municipal and local communities. This partnership builds on the more than 10 years' experience of the Urban Europe Joint Programming Initiative (JPI).

The DUT currently brings together more than 60 organizations from 27 countries, involving national science and technology research support agencies and bodies responsible for regional/urban development policies, with a view to investing in urban R&I and strengthening a European innovation ecosystem for urban transitions.

The DUT includes the FCT, the Northern Regional Coordination and DevelopmentCommission, the Central Regional Coordination and Development Commission, the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology and the Directorate-General for Territory.

Objectives of the DUT

DUT aims to create a robust community around urban transitions and establish a renowned research and innovation platform that will help cities become more sustainable, inclusive and liveable. Of the new HE partnerships, DUT is the only one that addresses urban development in its complexity, with a close link to the European mission of 100 climate-neutral smart cities.

The aim is to set up, together with the European Commission, a constantly growing network of knowledge and critical mass at European level, based on fostering research and innovation, with a view to funding transnational urban transition projects around three strategic axes of the DUT, called Transition Pathways.

DUT's strategic axes

Many of today's major challenges must be tackled within cities and by urban communities. DUT aims to tackle these challenges in an integrated and interrelated way in order to offer decision-makers in municipalities, companies and society the means to act and enable the necessary urban transformations.

The following three axes form the DUT's Transition Pathways:

• TP Positive Energy NeighborhoodsTP Positive Energy Neighbourhoods: optimizes the local energy system by implementing energy efficiency, flexibility and the generation of local energy from renewable sources. The aim is to promote (urban) energy transition and climate neutrality by integrating them into urban planning processes.
• TP City 15-MinutesTP 15-Minutes: rethinks the existing mobility system and urban morphology to encourage sustainable mobility choices, redistribute urban space and reorganize daily activities to make cities more climate-neutral, liveable and inclusive.
• TP Urban Circular Economies: promotes the design of urban places characterized by regenerative urbanism, such as green, inclusive and livable communities and neighbourhoods that are sustained by circular urban economies and resource flows.

DUT - Driving Urban Transitions launched the first Call in 2022. You can find more information here.