CapaCITIES 2.0 is designed as a support action for national and regional authorities to advance their governance structures for providing dedicated support for cities to achieve the EU Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission (EU Cities Mission) - answering to the Call HORIZON-MISS-2024-CIT-02-01. As a central initiative to foster and strengthen national narratives for the EU Cities Mission, it will coordinate actions across climate-neutral initiatives for cities in Europe, align and speed up efforts towards the goals of the Mission. CapaCITIES 2.0 will further shape a European environment conducive to urban climate neutrality transitions for national, regional and local authorities. It will initiate and strengthen national change processes to establish and mature national networks and platforms as well as multi-level governance in the entire EU, building on the experience of the CapaCITIES that already started setting-up national platforms in 15 EU countries. It provides dedicated support for public authorities to put enabling conditions and measures for cities in place to achieve the EU Cities Mission. Thereby, it contributes to reach (1) Increased preparedness and capacity of national, regional and local authorities in EU Member States and countries associated to Horizon Europe to engage in cities’ transition towards climate neutrality; (2) Improved ability to effectively address country-specific challenges and barriers for cities to achieve climate neutrality related to current regulatory frameworks, funding and financing, and governance structures and promotion of best-practices through transnational exchanges and sharing of experience and (3) Enhanced synergies with R&I national/international communities, relevant initiatives, and partnerships such as the ‘Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future’ Horizon Europe Partnership and the NetZeroCities – the EU Mission Platform(NZC) for the implementation of the Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.

The UPDATEPERRIURB project aims to renew knowledge on car dependency of household living in peri-urban and rural areas, in order to produce local mobility transition pathways. Although car dependency in peri-urban and rural areas received significant attention in the field of Transportation Studies in the 1990s and 2000s, it has since been neglected. This situation is paradoxical because these areas are precisely where the transition to sustainability appears to be the most challenging. UPDATEPERRIURB will investigate two hypotheses. The first hypothesis is that car dependency is increasing, leading to a sense of injustice due to deteriorating living conditions in these areas and a lack of suitable alternatives. The second hypothesis is that car dependency is being 'contained' and tackled into PURA . Being more aware of environmental and energy issues, households may seek to manage their car dependency differently. Both local public players and businesses could develop innovative solutions tailored to their area to promote sustainability. The aim of UPDATEPERRIURB is to test these two hypotheses by analysing statistical and cartographic data at national and local scales and conducting local field surveys. Additionally, the project aims to collaborate with local stakeholders such as households, public players, associations, and businesses to develop different scenarios for the sustainable and inclusive development of car dependency in peri-urban and rural areas, based on feedback from existing schemes. This output will enable exploration of the full range of scenarios between the two extreme hypotheses. These scenarios will be tailored to the economic, social, spatial, and political characteristics of the studied areas. They will also serve as a basis for proposing national recommendations. UPDATEPERRIURB aims to analyse in particular the changes that have taken place over the last ten years in the extended metropolitan areas of Angers, Clermont-Ferrand, Caen, Toulon, and Angoulême. These are areas that have been little studied, where car ownership rates are very high and there are few alternatives to the car as the sole means of transport. They structure living and employment areas with contrasting internal characteristics, combining the main urban centre, secondary centres of towns and small cities, and their respective areas of influence, as well as rural areas. Particular emphasis will be placed on peri-urban and rural areas around Angers and Clermont-Ferrand. This will provide a detailed understanding of car dependency in contexts resulting from two different industrial and agricultural histories and demographic dynamism, as well as specific urban and spatial morphologies linked to their location in the national geographical space. Partnerships have been established with local authorities and the trade union and association structures responsible for mobility in each of the study areas. These include Departmental Councils 49 and 63, the Urban Planning Agency of the Angevin Region and the Urban Planning Agency of Clermont Massif Central, the Joint Public Transport Association of the Clermont Agglomeration (SMTC-AC) and Angers Loire Métropole (both authorities responsible for organising mobility), the Social Centre of the Chemillois (Centre Social du Chemillois). From a scientific perspective, UPDATEPERRIURB relies on a multidisciplinary approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methodologies. This approach involves anthropologists, geographers, planners, and economists and is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. The use of mixed methods is intended to overcome any compartmentalisation of knowledge. It also allows for user expertise and collaboration with local stakeholders.

The impact of road traffic on local air quality is a major policy concern and there have been numerous projects aiming at improving underlying vehicle and fuel technologies, traffic management and enforcement. MODALES will contribute to a substantial reduction in air pollution from all types of motorised road vehicles by encouraging the adoption of low-emission oriented driving behaviour and maintenance choice, improving the effectiveness of OBD devices and retrofits. The main goal of MODALES is to advance the fundamental understanding of the co-variability of user behaviour and vehicular emissions from powertrain, brakes and tyres, and modify user behaviour via dedicated training, including a driver assistance app and awareness campaigns, in order to support effective air quality plans and enforcement strategies to be developed by local and national authorities. MODALES proposes a user-centric approach to addressing all of the challenges which on the one hand enhance low-emission practices and on the other hand suppress high-emission behaviour by researching, developing and testing a number of innovative and complementary solutions in four key areas (namely, Driver, Retrofits, EOBD and Inspection) in order to substantially reduce vehicle emissions from 3 main sources (i.e. powertrain, brake wear and tyre wear). The results will be used as evidence with adequate quality to guide the derivation of effective driving practices and training courses for different user groups. MODALES echoes the EC ambition to open up global markets in transport services, through the creation of a worldwide platform for sharing and exchanging innovative solutions, experience and best practices for low-emission practices.