Cities are one of the main centers and contributors to environmental challenges today, using about 75 % of all global energy and creating about 70 % of greenhouse gas emissions. The predominance of concrete and other impervious materials in modern urban design further contributes to the creation of urban heat islands and increases the risk of flooding. At the same time, urban areas rely heavily on long, carbon-intensive food and water supply chains, which increase emissions, increase vulnerability to disruptions, and reduce the quality of life for residents.

Researchers will seek solutions to the problems faced by modern cities within the framework of a new project entitled Resilient Green Urban Communities of the Future (ReGreenUrb). The project brings together representatives from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering UL (project coordinator), the Faculty of Social Sciences UL (led by Teaching Assistant Prof. Dr. Iris Koleša), the Faculty of Health Sciences UL, and the Faculty of Architecture UL. Together, they will develop complementary technological innovations that promote the sustainable transition of urban communities. The main goal of the project is to provide advanced, energy-efficient solutions to the problem of urban overheating and the growing challenges of water and food shortages in urban centers.

In developing technological innovations within the ReGreenUrb project, special attention will be paid to ensuring healthy living conditions and synergies with innovative architectural solutions. In order to ensure that the developed solutions are more quickly accepted by end users, urban communities, regional and municipal decision-makers, businesses, and other stakeholders, the project also includes in-depth analyses of social needs and the the evaluation of societal readiness for the uptake of the innovations developed in the project.

In the previous project, Green Urban Communities of the Future, researchers at the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana focused on studying sustainable strategies for regions and municipalities. In the new project, they will use surveys to investigate how individuals (i.e., end users or members of urban communities) perceive sustainable innovations and analyze their readiness to accept sustainable innovations in urban communities. Insights into the needs, motives, and barriers related to the introduction and acceptance of sustainable innovations will form the basis for developing guidelines on how to introduce and difuse sustainable innovations in practice more effectively.

The project focuses on the development of innovative technological solutions for urban environments and thus has the most direct impact on the urban population and decision-makers at the municipal level, but the innovations developed within the project will also be transferable to rural areas.

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The project contributes to the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).

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