Urban Europe: global changes – local solutions (JPI UE)

The EU Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe: Global Changes – Local Solutions (JPI Urban Europe) aims at creating attractive, sustainable and economically viable urban areas in which European citizens, communities and their surroundings can thrive. The initiative is focused on the following themes:

• Transforming urban areas to centres of innovation and technology
• Ensuring social cohesion and integration
• Reducing the ecological footprint and enhancing climate neutrality
• Exploiting technological solutions to achieve efficient and sustainable urban systems and networks (mobility, energy, water, ICT, etc.).

By coordinating research and innovation activities, JPI Urban Europe aims to make better use of European public funds. The initiative has launched seven calls in 2012–2018. The cooperation involves a total of 19 countries and the European Commission.

The Research Council of Finland’s Scientific Council for Culture and Society co-funded the call ERA-NET Smart Urban Futures in 2015–2016. A total of 15 international consortia with two Finnish partners were funded.