Urban logistics has become increasingly fragmented due to on-demand and time-sensitive delivery. Urban distribution systems have become multi-tier and multi-modal, and increasingly include multiple deconsolidation, cross-dock, and inventory locations. This implies an increase in the use of urban space, both for storage and movement of goods. While models to support urban planners and companies have advanced substantially, the combination of space and time requirements have received little attention. We develop innovative strategies leveraging advanced analytics to cope with the inherent dynamics of the urban logistics system, including stochastic models designed to support decision makers to best use of existing networks of logistics facilities and delivery modes, and to cope with limited urban space while meeting the increasing and time-sensitive customer expectations. We take a ground-breaking approach to also include the welfare of delivery couriers explicitly into our modelling approach, recognizing the anxiety and stress that human logistics operators face in this challenging environment. Our strategies and models are evaluated based on the urban realities of Bordeaux (France) and Chengdu (China). This allows us to compare logistics practice in two medium-sized cities with various topology and business environment, and with relatively low urban density to that in a metropolis with extremely high density.

The main objective of UNDETERRED is to strengthen the fight against racial, ethnic and religious inequalities experienced by the younger generation (18-35 years old) of immigrant and national minority populations in Europe. In this perspective, action research will take the systemic dimension of discrimination as a priority. It will focus on improving knowledge about the norms, procedures and practices that produce racial, ethnic and religious inequalities in the EU without 'institutional intentions' in the housing, employment, health and higher education sectors.

This project aims to structure a shared resource platform for third-party financing companies (Sociétés de Tiers-Financement - STF): the Office of Renovations and Financings for Energy Efficiency (ORFEE). The ORFEE will be a resource center to consolidate the business model of STFs: to pool their developments and coordinate their operational processes, to reduce their costs, to centralize findings and better disseminate them, etc. ORFEE aims to define a corpus of conformity and quality of the renovations, ranging from the orientation of households towards renovation programs adapted to their needs and energy efficiency objectives, until the completion of the works and the follow-up of consumption, as well as issuing quality guarantees for the owners. This operational guarantee would cover, in case of poor performance, the resumption of work. ORFEE should rely on best practices in Europe and North America, to structure and size the guarantee fund and to strengthen operational support to STF. It should also be based on a dialogue with banks that want to attribute energy and environmental labels to the financing of renovations. The design of ORFEE must also allow the STF to strengthen their financial structure: ORFEE will help STF to structure the dialogue they have to build with the EIB and financial investors with a view to improve their funding. Loans granted by the STF to households would be transferred without recourse to a special purpose vehicle The objective is twofold: to remove from their assets the receivables of STF on households and multi-property buildings to master the size of their balance sheet and optimize their equity, and secondly, to feed investors with securities issued by the SPV, complying with the "GREENFIN" label implemented in France - or other equivalent labels in Europe. ORFEE consortium is formed with STF which are already operative and consulting firms bringing their expertise.

Meeting the challenges of providing European citizens with affordable, safe and nutritious food and of creating healthier and more sustainable City Region Food Systems raises the need for the development of integrated urban food policies that are able to engage with the complexity of the food system. Today’s leading platform for this endeavour is the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, a powerful global network of learning cities experimenting around, and advocating for, the implementation of a holistic approach to food system transformation. FOODTRAILS, a four-year project led by the City of Milan, brings together a Consortium of 19 partners (including 11 EU cities, 3 universities and 5 prominent food system stakeholders), which will be followed by another 21 worldwide cities, to translate the MUFPP’s shared vision and collective commitment to integrated urban food policies into measurable and long-term progress towards sustainable food systems. Building on the momentum created by the recent emergence of cities as key sites to reimagine, enact and engage with food system transformation, FOOD TRAILS will provide city and regional governments and other agents of change with evidence-based policy narratives, co-designed and verified through the activities of 11 multi-objective and multi-actor Living Labs committed to addressing the 4 priority areas of the flagship FOOD 2030 framework. Using the existing knowledge on innovations for food system transformation, the Living Labs will co-design pilot projects that minimize the trade-offs between the 4 priorities of FOOD 2030 and that can function as an entry point for the development of integrated urban food policies. FOODTRAILS will also establish a pan-European Investors’ Living Lab to develop innovative financial instruments that will attract new resources to sustain the urban food policies developed during the project, maximize their visibility and support their replicability across the EU.

HANDSHAKE supports the effective take up of the integrated cycling solutions successfully developed by Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Munich, our Cycling Capitals and world-renowned cycling front runners, to our 10 highly committed Future Cycling Capitals, Bordeaux Metropole, Bruges, Cadiz, Dublin, Helsinki, Krakow, Greater Manchester, Riga, Rome and Turin. Our partner cities are combined in a composite working environment in which diverse geographical contexts, socio-economic conditions and planning cultures work toward the same goals, that is, delivering the desired cycling change. The project believes that effective transfer can happen only in the presence of: i) state-of-art body of knowledge on cycling policy and solutions; ii) sustaining transition processes; iii) motivating and supporting forms of mentorship. In HANDSHAKE this is ensured by the presence of 3 cycling planning champions, the employment of highly innovative methods brought together into a supportive and novel transfer cycle (including Bikenomics, Immersive Study Tours and Transition Management), and a mentorship programme that takes by the hand each participating city. The gathered team will cooperate to reach a number of strategic objectives: i) Inspire the creation or refinement of holistic cycling visions and concrete transfer approaches; ii) Foster the adoption of a multidisciplinary planning culture to empower the project process and consolidate future cycling policies and investments; iii) allow cycling to become a key element of urban transport; iv) Improve cycling modal share and safety; v) Leverage the potential of cycling as a critical congestion relief tool; vi) Leverage cycling to improve public health; vii) Foster economic growth. HANDSHAKE expects to improve cycling attractiveness by +52% and competitiveness by 17%, shift ca. 60.000 people to cycling with +34% in frequency of cycling use, 37,5% in accidents, traffic levels lowered by 6,34%, and CO2 savings of -3.706.000 kg CO2/year.