29/05/2026
🌍🏙️ The third session of the European Climate Policy Lab is behind us! 💚🇪🇺
On May 28, we continued our webinar series, this time shifting our focus directly to the local level. Our guest and guide through the world of sustainable urban transformation was Prof. Edoardo Croci, Director of the SUR Lab (Sustainable Urban Regeneration Lab) at Bocconi University in Milan. 🎙️🏫🌱
Together, we looked at cities, which on one hand generate as much as 80% of global GDP, and on the other – stand on the frontline of the fight against climate change. It is within the urban fabric that the challenges of adapting to extreme weather events, social justice, and technological innovations intersect most intensely. 📊💥⛈️
The discussion showed that green urban regeneration is not just a matter of planting trees, but a complex managerial, financial, and social process. During an extremely dynamic Q&A session, participants challenged our expert with highly insightful and thought-provoking questions, including:
💬 Is the "sponge city" concept fully applicable to historical European city centers, where ancient streets and heritage buildings prevent digging deep underground for water storage?
💬 How can we convince private capital to fund climate resilience infrastructure (like adapting to extreme heat), when investors expect fast returns and adaptation feels more like a cost than a profit-making project?
💬 What separates meaningful, realistic long-term climate planning for 2030 or 2050 from political branding or “greenwashing”?
💬 Do revolutionary urban models like Barcelona’s "superblocks" or Paris’s "15-minute city" drive gentrification and push long-term, lower-income residents out of historical centers?
💬 How do we handle the social backlash against Low Emission Zones (L*Z), where lower-income drivers who cannot afford electric cars feel unfairly excluded?
💬 Are Digital Twins and Artificial Intelligence actually being used in practice for urban planning, or is it still just a vision of the future?
We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Edoardo Croci for an inspiring lecture and for sharing the latest research findings from the SUR Lab! 👏
The event was organized by Jakub Mirkowski, European Climate Pact Ambassador, within NODES – Network of Diverse European Societies, and moderated by Sara Macaya. 🌐🤝