Sustainability of cities is currently a key challenge in Europe: nowadays, around 70% of Europeans live in cities and this number will rise, therefore urban areas are the most important test-bed for energy transition and decarbonisation models. Decarbonisation measures concern a wide variety of topics, therefore their planning requires a systemic interdisciplinary approach that is currently not widespread in HE, but is nonetheless necessary to let new professional profiles emerge, able to coordinate different stakeholders, data and sources of information. In previous Erasmus projects such as EH-Cmap, ENEPLAN and E-RESPLAN project partners have put into practice holistic approach which resulted in interdisciplinary intellectual outputs. Building on the results of the FP7 City-Zen project, by using systemic interdisciplinary approach, the project intends to develop and test an innovative, creative, European-scaled learning environment called ‘city decarbonisation itinerant workshop’, where students, specialists and stakeholders can come together to address common onsite challenges and define collaborative urban decarbonisation roadmaps through a ‘learning-by-doing’ method.In this way, the project intends to help fulfilling the needs of Higher education in fields related to the built environment and urban sustainability, that often lack interdisciplinary approach, real-world experiences and contacts with real urban contexts and actors beyond classroom activities. To reach these objectives, the project foresees:- the definition of a common methodology to guide project implementation, that will be shared within the partnership during a dedicated Teachers training workshop- a series of 3 local workshops, touching different target cities (Seville, Siena, Rome), each one involving HEI students from the hosting partner university, experts from partner organisation and local stakeholders in the drafting of city decarbonisation roadmaps for target neighbourhoods/districts. Before each workshop, the hosting university will involvement its students in a context analysis and in the preparation of the knowledge base for the collaborative work to do during the workshop. - the fine-tuning and integration of the project methodology according to the workshops results, and the creation of a modular online course on urban decarbonisation collecting and organizing the OERs and the educational materials produced during the project - the realization of an open web-based platform where the online course and the other materials produced during the project will be freely accessible to students and professors for further exploitation- a last 2-weeks’ Intensive Course in Malta (embedding both a 1-week preparatory lab and a 1-week workshop), where 3 students per partner HEI and 2 teachers/trainers per partner organization will put into practice the final methodology and OERs and draft a sustainable development agenda for a target area in the city of Valletta. - a Final conference to present the project results, draw conclusions, provide guidelines and recommendations for the transferability of the project methodology and outputs.Participants will include HE students from participating universities, enrolled in geography, urban planning, architecture and environment courses, who will have an opportunity to experience a real life planning process in a stimulating, international and multidisciplinary learning environment. Students involved in the city decarbonisation itinerant workshop (around 100 in total) and in the Intensive Course (9) will acquire/improve their soft skills (ability to deal with complex, interdisciplinary urban issues, to work in team with non-academic stakeholders, to correctly interpret the urban context and identify shared solutions to common problems…) and trans-disciplinary competences, resulting in increased employability in both the public and the private sector (as energy managers, consultants, urban planners, policy makers, etc.). Participating teachers/trainers will also benefit from the innovative educational experience set up by the project, by testing a teaching practice that can be replicated in their regular academic activities, increasing the appeal and relevance of their courses. Moreover, local stakeholders (around 10 for each workshop, belonging to public sector, private enterprises, business support organizations and NGOs) and citizens participating in the workshops will gain awareness on urban sustainability issues and get an insight on planning processes.Long-term scope of the project is to improve cooperation and share knowledge to manage energy transition and pursue decarbonisation of European cities, combining multidisciplinary competences. The teaching/learning experiences implemented and materials provided in open access are therefore expected to allow for building capacity of new professional figures able to manage this urgent and necessary transition to carbon neutrality.

E-RESPLAN is a Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, aiming at providing young professional and experts with innovative tools in order to reinforce their interdisciplinar skills in the field of energy planning, RES development and spatial planning.Architecture and planning traditions are often not well-integrated with the recent development of new technologies in the energy field. And, on the opposite, the experts in energy and RES development do often not have skills to properly integrate new plants in urban contexts and in cultural and ecological valuable landscapes. The integration among these competencies is more and more required, especially considering the relevance of integrated tools and strategies, at European, national and local scales, as in the case of SEAPs – Sustainable Energy Action Plans, in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors.The starting point is twofold: on the one side, the project addressed the issue of integrated planning and energy planning, which is central in local, national and EU strategies; on the other side, it addressed the need of specific and interdisciplinary educational tools and activities in this field.The project was dealing with energy planning issues, RES technologies, landscape and environmental assessment, energy potential mapping and governance, in order to support young professionals and experts in developing competencies in cooperation with Higher Education Institutions and Local Energy Agencies, in order to qualify the work in public sector and to support the access to job market for newly graduated or close to graduation participants.The overall objective was to experiment new techniques of learning and teaching, through the use of Complex maps, ICT and Cloud tools, in order to encourage the sharing of knowledge and to develop collaborative training tools (http://cmap.ihmc.us/cmap-cloud/) in the above fields.The project also aimed at:- realising a new tool called Energy-CMap, an OER for the scientific and educational purposes of the project;- supporting the training of experts in energy and environmental planning through the definition of educational tools at academic levels (Concept Maps and OER);- contributing in the reinforcement of networks among planners, academics and enterprises operating in the field of RES;- development, with a view to increase labour market relevance of learning provisions and qualifications;- establishing a network among Mediterranean Universities with the aim of improving their educational capacities in the fields of RES development, energy and environmental planning, according to 2020 EU goals.During the project, partners realised, test, evaluate and improved the Energy-CMaps, organised in 5 educational modules. Energy-CMaps were tested through distance learning activities, involving professors and students, in the field of Architecture, Energy, Engineering, Geography. Participants were also involved in intensive learning activities in order to verify and complete the acquired competencies.At least 100 learners were involved in distance learning activities (OER) and (among them) 23 learners took part in Intensive Study Programme, to test the acquired competencies in a real case study. 22 teachers were involved in an Intensive Study Programme.The expected impacts for participants are an improvement in accessing job market thanks to acquired competencies, and also through the development of professional networks, especially with experts in energy planning and Municipalities; the development of horizontal professional network with other participants, at international level; the possibility to access the Concept Maps to update their skills and competencies.Teachers, professors and other educational professionals improved their approach in using Concept Maps in normal educational activities, being also able to re-adapt the provided educational materials and to update them. They will also enlarge the range of their educational activities, using OER in a more pro-active way.Universities and Energy Agencies had the opportunities to develop existing e-learning materials, to improve the use of OER, to reinforce the links between professional education and academic education and to reinforce interdisciplinary and integrated approaches in curricula.

By focusing on urban resilience, InCLIMATE addresses one of the new priorities of the Erasmus Programme and one of the most urgent topics in the EU, where most countries are dealing with climate risk management issues, but lack a holistic and common approach to resilience. HEIs have an important responsibility in delivering this common approach. However, they are often too sectoral, slow to respond to changing needs, and do not provide future urban planners, geographers, architects, environmental experts, policy makers and officers with adequate, integrated knowledge on climate resilience, preventing them to become active leaders in the strengthening of territorial responsiveness to climate change impacts.International cooperation seems the best-fit environment to develop joint learning tools, undertake in-depth research and support policy makers. An urban resilience framework calls for a process that brings together diverse disciplines and sectors to identify appropriate measures, responses and recovery. It needs transversal competences, e-skills, creativity and flexibility. The project aims to take on the challenge by increasing HEI staff’s and students’ interdisciplinary skills through the development of innovative educational approaches to planning and allied disciplines to rise to the challenge posed by Climate Change. Furthermore, it aims to bring the challenge within the core of urban governance, by directly and indirectly training professionals and officers to shape resilient policies.To attain these goals, the project proposes an alternation of desk activities and workshops targeting both teaching staff and students, aimed at the collective production, development, sharing, testing and dissemination of Open Educational Resources (OERs), based on the use of collaborative Concept Maps. More specifically, the project foresees:- Training of 11 lecturers/trainers/researchers on project topics, methodology and tools, during a workshop promoting a holistic approach to climate resilience (taking into consideration spatial, environmental and technological aspects), the use of OERs as part of the regular teaching and training practice, and the use of concept mapping as an effective method to transfer meaningful, interdisciplinary knowledge on climate resilience topics.- Testing of the project methodology at partner level, with the involvement of around 400 students in partner universities and 10 Maltese public officers, who will be trained by partners on the use of concept maps for climate resilience planning and policy design.- Involvement of 40 students of different academic backgrounds in an intensive course/workshop based on concept mapping and interdisciplinary group work, where students are encouraged to break the barriers of their disciplines and learn to build a shared knowledge and cooperate for the sake of climate adaptation. The Intensive course intends to represent a model of collaborative educational experience – a laboratory for interdisciplinary and cross-fertilizing collaboration among lecturers and students that can be replicated in other courses, faculties and HEIs in partner countries and beyond. - Production of OERs on climate resilience based on concept mapping, organized in modular courses and made freely available on the project e-learning platform, where they are expected to empower HEIs courses and provide targeted training for professionals, public officers, and policy makers.Project outputs will challenge the complex and interconnecting issues related to urban resilience, and contribute to transfer resilience concepts into operational capacities in local government, civil society and professional communities.The project is expected to primarily benefit HE students, who – within a stimulating learning environment - will acquire interdisciplinary knowledge and skills in the fields of climate resilience, which in the medium-to-long term could result in more opportunities for research or employment and better professional placement in the public and private sectors. HE lecturers will benefit from networking opportunities at national and international level, useful for the development of future research and cooperation projects, while public officers trained during the project will acquire additional knowledge and soft skills that will support them in their ordinary activities related to urban and regional planning, policy-making, etc. All target groups (academic and non-academic, within and outside the consortium) will gain access to a wide range of open access materials and OERs on climate resilience, which can be freely exploited and customized for research and professional activities, skills upgrading, professional refreshment or training, far beyond the end of the project.Finally, the project will establish a network among involved EU countries and beyond, crucial to transfer results and findings to an operational policy perspective at different territorial levels.

The aim is to explore and develop an integrated ICT solution to support the development of an electricity local market place and innovative business models, including operational methods to encourage micro-generation with renewable resources and participation of consumers and prosumers. The creation of incentives for all players would allow for exploiting the latent flexibility of the user-side of the electricity distribution net. This would greatly enhance the benefits of distributed renewable resources and enhance the impact and sustainability of demand-response programs. A local electricity market approach supported by innovative ICT platforms can operate effectively in a synchronized way with the overall energy system and market. The solution will create a shared engagement of local supply alleviating the traditional DSO’s need to invest in centralized sourcing. The proposal’s integrated ICT real-time platform would be able to manage trading, metering and management of electricity flow according to the transactions completed within the local market and beyond its boundaries. EMPOWER follows a micro-grid approach where energy flow is controlled by devices that are managed by a cloud-based management module. The management module also supports the trading that is handled by customizable software agents. Aggregation of contributions from the user community, metering, credit assignments, predictions and strategy maintenance would be aligned to different business models. A real-time communication module links the management part with the micro-grid control and household devices assigned to an integrated demand-response regime. EMPOWER will be tested at three representative locations across Europe, to prove that a ICT-supported local market approach would be accepted by consumers and prosumers, ensuring the required engagement and benefits to establish a highly efficient self-adaptive market solution able to balance supply and demand effectively at local level.

The ENEPLAN project was conceived to address the lack of interdisciplinary approaches in higher education on energy planning and RES development in Mediterranean areas, by increasing the capacities of future professionals through innovative ICT-based educational approaches, able to integrate different disciplines (spatial planning, environment, engineering, landscape) and foster collaboration with research and business activities in the RES sector, thus keeping up with its rapid technological innovation. Addressing this issue is crucial to ensure sustainability in energy planning, and form more qualified, up to date, employable professionals, able to deal with innovative RES-based solutions and with the complexity of their socio-economic and environmental context.To attain this goal, ENEPLAN proposes an alternation of desk activities and workshops aimed at the collective production, development, testing and practical application of Open Educational Resources on energy planning, based on the tool of collaborative Concept maps.A Concept map is an ICT tool to represent relationships among concepts, and, as OER, it can be “customized” according to users’ needs, resulting in a versatile instrument for educational purposes and professional upgrade, as well as in a stimulus for developing applied research. Through this tool, ENEPLAN aims to:- improve the quality and modernisation of HE curricula and teaching and research activities in the field of integrated energy planning; - increase the labour market relevance of learning provisions and qualifications, and the employability of graduates;- strengthen the relations between HEI and the wider socio-economic environment, by involving academics, students, planners and enterprises in the creation of common tools and networks.OERs, uploaded on the ENEPLAN e-learning platform, will be available in English and Arabic, to be exploitable by a wide number of users in Europe and in the Arabic-speaking Mediterranean countries.