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Research and innovation

Urban research and innovation projects

Page about Horizon 2020 projects covering the different aspects of urban research and innovation

Scope of projects

Horizon 2020 promoted a cross-sectorial approach to research and innovation on urban issues.
The urban issues covered included climate, mobility, energy and resource efficiency, circularity, health and wellbeing, culture and nature-based solutions to improve air quality.

    Urban mobility projects

    Horizon 2020 initiatives and projects on urban mobility address challenges such as climate change, air quality, fuels, and noise, at both EU and international level. In particular

    • a Coordination and Support Action FUTURE RADAR is funding urban transport decarbonisation. The action cities in Europe, Asia, and Latin America share best practices and solutions on urban electric mobility
    • cities are implementing sustainable urban mobility measures in the Urban Electro Mobility Initiative together with UN-Habitat, as part of the UN Habitat III New Urban Agenda
    • a Coordinated Support Action on urban transport and international cooperation is underway to develop a common European research and innovation strategy for the future of road transport.
      It has the ambition to strengthen EU collaboration with Asia, Latin America and Africa in urban mobility, in particular electromobility.

    Urban health projects

    Under Horizon 2020, urban health and wellbeing projects cover a wide range of topics.
    Overview of funded projects

    Three call topics focused specifically on urban health

    • innovative actions for improving urban health and wellbeing addressing environment, climate and socioeconomic factors
    • visionary and integrated solutions to improve wellbeing and health in cities
    • the European Human Exposome Project feeds into ongoing urban health research. The project is the world’s largest network of projects studying the impact of environmental exposure on human health. It combines nine projects that receive over €100 million from Horizon 2020, running from 2020 until 2024.

    Projects on heritage-led urban regeneration and resilience

    Horizon 2020 projectsand initiatives promote cultural heritage as a driver for sustainable growth in urban areas by

    • leveraging investments and supporting entrepreneurship
    • promoting adaptive reuse of historic districts together with their communities
    • supporting systemic heritage-led strategies to limit the effects of disasters and climate change

    The main project results can be found in

    Project database

    Information on smart and sustainable cities projects from all Horizon 2020 calls (2014-2020) can be found in the CORDIS project database/p>

    EU Urban Agenda partnerships

    Knowledge and achievements from Horizon 2020 projects fed into the action plans of the EU Urban Agenda Partnerships on

    • culture and cultural heritage
    • public spaces
    • air quality
    • climate adaptation
    • nature-based solutions

    List of projects that contributed to the action plans