The objective of HouseInc is to apply innovative methodology to deeply analyse interlinked dimensions of housing inequalities in the context of marginalized communities. HouseInc will empirically examine economic, social and ecological drivers and assess impacts of various indicators on housing inequality to derive policy recommendations that foster the adoption of effective measures addressing housing inequality across Europe. With a transdisciplinary dialogue, the project develops innovative social, financial and digital solutions that can be up-scaled and thus, contribute to a better socio-economic and sustainable integration of vulnerable groups in European societies. HouseInc takes a systemic view and assesses interlinkages of housing inequalities - emphasizing energy and mobility poverty, digital dimensions, employment opportunities, family and socio-demographic conditions, energy-efficiency and health - on a micro-, meso- and macro-level. The interdisciplinary HouseInc consortium - consisting of research institutes and universities, policy think tanks, NGOs and practitioners on the ground - involves case studies to engage directly with members of four marginalized communities in or from Eastern Europe. Besides a mix-method approach, including modelling and a GIS-based analysis depicting geographical and future housing inequality, we implement a multinational survey to better understand housing inequality in light of recent events such as COVID-19 and Russia's invasion in the Ukraine. The research results will be assessed, mapped and scaled up using Living Labs and various stakeholder engagement activities to provide innovative solutions addressing housing inequalities and translating them into valid local, regional, national and EU policy recommendations impacting EU and national funding programs and providing a comprehensive overview and guidance for policymakers to mitigate housing inequalities.

UPPER aims at spearheading a Public Transport revolution that will strengthen the role of PT as the flagship of sustainability and innovation of mobility in cities, leading the transition towards a zero emission mobility which will become the cornerstone of climate neutrality by 2030, in line with the goal of Cities Mission and the priorities of the Green Deal. UPPER will put the Public Transport at the centre of the mobility ecosystem and will implement a combination of 84 push and pull measures, acting on the 5 innovation axes that condition user’s choices: mindset and culture, urban mobility planning, mobility services ecosystem, road network management and democratic governance. These measures will act in 4 different timescales (from shorter to longer-term): communication, operations, infrastructure and urban fabric. The UPPER measures will be supported by the UPPER Toolkit (U-TWIN, U-SIM, U-NEED, U-GOV, U-KNOW, U-TRANSFER and U-SUMP), 7 IT tools combining social and technological innovation that will be demonstrated within the measures in the 5+5 UPPER living labs and twinning sites, with the overall target of increasing the use of public transport by >30% and the user satisfaction by >25%, leaving nobody behind in the process. This integrated and holistic approach will ease the cooperation among authorities and operators, offer a physical and digital environment to test the measures, update the existing SUMPs, optimise the PT offer in line with user needs and patterns, involve the users in the overall mobility decision chain, trigger the behavioural change in favour of Public Transport and achieve an attractive, efficient, reliable, safe, inclusive and affordable Public Transport system in line with the concept of Mobility as a Right (MaaR)

Due to persistently high youth unemployment, increased skills mismatches and school drop-out in many EU Member States, career guidance to secondary and vocational school students aged 16-18 has in the past years been the subject of much attention. However, effective orientation needs to start earlier to permit equal opportunities and informed decisions concerning educational and professional paths, helping all young people to find employment that suits them.In many countries, students as young as 13-14 have to choose whether they will continue in “general” studies, focus on “maths/science” or go into vocational training. So already from this young age, they have to make an important choice that will affect the career options that will be available to them as they grow older.How can they make informed decisions? And who is there to help young people make these very important, life-determining choices? Mainly parents, career guidance counsellors and teachers. Yet educational staff are often ill-equipped to provide career orientation to this age group, who at this stage in their lives would not benefit from specific career guidance services. What they require most is what we call “Life Design Skills”, i.e. the knowledge, mindset and skills they will need to make informed choices concerning their education, and thereafter to develop their professional lives in a labour market that will primarily be characterised by change.Our specific objective is thus to empower teachers, youth workers, career guidance providers (‘Educators’) to teach Life Design Skills to young people.We will work towards this objective primarily by developing a ‘Skills for Life Toolbox’ for Educators. This Toolbox will be developed cooperatively by all project partners who will pilot it with approximately 500 Educators and 10,000 students in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Romania. It will be composed of:-An on-line self-evaluation tool to help students discover their strengths, weaknesses, priorities, interests and personality types and to start considering how these may relate to different professional profiles;-A board game to help students make the link between their own personal characteristics and those of different job profiles and economic sectors;-A series of modules that Educators can implement as a function of their teaching environment, to dig deeper into the subject with their students;-A half-day training to teach Educators to deliver these activities, also available as on-line training modules;-A user-friendly Impact Assessment Methodology that will enable Educators to measure the impact and efficacy of their intervention.All of the results will be freely accessible online in five languages: Dutch, English, German, Italian and Romanian, and will be designed in such a way as to easily cross language and cultural barriers.We will also use our experience of piloting the Toolbox to develop Policy Recommendations that will highlight actions and policies that support effective early-stage career orientation and Life Design Skills for young people.The Toolbox will be mainstreamed (1) by project partners who will use the Toolbox as part of their regular activities and promote its use by local stakeholders; (2) through dissemination activities aimed at school directors, educators, counsellors, local authorities, Chambers of Commerce and other stakeholders concerned with youth employment; (3) through engagement with policy-makers especially using the Policy Recommendations.Expected impactsThe Skills for Life Toolbox will:-empower teachers, youth workers, career counsellors and other career guidance and orientation providers to deliver effective pre-career guidance to young people aged 13-14,-empower young people to choose an educational pathway that will lead them into employment that suits them,-provide young people with the skills they will need as they grow older and make their way through an employment environment characterised by change.We will also raise awareness – among local, regional, national and European stakeholders – of the need to introduce career orientation to students at a younger age than is currently the case, and will promote our results as an efficient and effective means of meeting this need.In the longer term, this project will help bridge the gap between a labour market in constant evolution and an education system that struggles to remain up-to-date. As a result, young people will be better prepared to envisage their future, to seize new opportunities and be more resilient to constant change and continuous transitions.Skills for Life will contribute not only to more fulfilling careers for young people, but also to a more innovative and competitive European economy.This project has been created by Goethe-Institut (DE), Aliseo Liguria (IT), Scoala de Valori (RO), Tracé Brussel (BE) and the City of Mannheim (DE).

GreenDEMO sets out to study the new and innovative role of public administrations in coping with societal challenges, particularly in supporting democratic processes of societal change to reach green sustainability goals. The project aims to contribute to 'greener' democracies in Europe and to more democratic sustainability transition processes. GreenDEMO more particularly proposes to design, prototype, test and replicate organisational innovation in city administration in order to enable, stabilise and enhance capacities of public administration to act for climate neutrality and democratic stability. City administrations need to collaborate with stakeholders to set up local green deals. This is critical given that trust in public institutions is weakening (crisis of democracies). Moreover, even in a less challenging political climate, establishing effective political interventions in support of ambitious climate and green sustainability goals is a complex issue. Thus, there is a double pressure on democracies to secure effectiveness and democratic legitimacy. Current studies suggest that this requires public administration to build up "transformative capacities". One lever to build such capacities is organisational innovation, e.g. new structures or processes, or practices. Demo Cities (Mannheim, Bristol, Aalborg) commit to such organisational innovation and will work on demonstrators, while Fellow Cities (Glasgow, Aarhus, Bamberg, Schaerbeek, Poznan) will work on replication activities and roadmaps for their own organisational change process. We assume that cities, which prove to be able to innovate their approaches and work together with their stakeholders, will be in a better position to implement (effective) local green deals. This, in turn, is expected to increase trust in public bodies and hence might be an important mechanism to strengthen democracies.