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Incunabula are printed materials created in Europe from the time of Johann Gutenberg's invention until 1500. Incunabula originate from the Latin language (lat. Incunabulum) and mean cradle or the beginning of something. In this paper, the representation of individual states and cities in the creation of incunabula is investigated and presented. The persons responsible for such development are also listed. Special attention is given to the presentation of Croatian incunabula. The mentioned works describe the characteristic features. Incunabula testify to a high level of culture, standards, and technological development of a particular area. The studied works reveal and confirm, as confirmed in this paper, the attitude of society towards literacy, education, and the national culture of each nation. This paper aims to comprehensively present the importance of incunabula for the development of European and Croatian culture, technological and comprehensive progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increasing level of recognition of the interaction between cultural mega-events and built heritage in recent years. While research has broadly identified the need to align strategies and visions, as well as involve heritage actors and local communities, there has not been a systematic investigation of the position of industrial heritage within this tableau. This paper examines in depth the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) programme, as it is one of the longest standing Capital of Culture programmes in the world and has a significant record of investment and urban transformation. In this paper, we survey and categorise the inclusion of industrial heritage within the ECoC programme in 36 host cities and regions spread across Europe. This research provides the most comprehensive understanding to date of the specific forms of interaction between industrial heritage and ECoCs to better understand the kinds of relationships that have taken place. We then explore in detail the projects and decisions made in the cases of the 2023 Elefsina, 2017 Pafos and 2008 Liverpool ECoCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban lab is an experimental governance approach for the co-creation of innovative solutions to urban challenges, such as climate change. However, urban lab scholarship has overlooked lab formation as a distinct process and is almost exclusively based on European cases. Therefore, little is known about the role of context conditions for lab formation in general and beyond Europe in particular. To address these gaps, this paper inductively analyses urban lab formation in five cities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, develops a framework for the comparative analysis of lab formation challenges, and asks: What do the challenges encountered and the solutions developed during lab formation in these cities tell us about the context dependence of the urban lab approach and what are the implications for its potential beyond Europe? Comparing insights from Europe to the findings from Latin America, the paper answers these questions and identifies future research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this paper is to present an innovative approach to addressing the challenges of smart mobility exploiting digital twins within the METACITIES initiative. We have worked on this issue due to the increasing complexity of urban transportation systems, coupled with the urgent need to improve efficiency, safety, and sustainability in cities. The work presented in this paper is part of the project METACITIES, an Excellence Hub that spans a large geographical area, that of Southeastern Europe. The approach of the Greek innovation ecosystem of METACITIES involves leveraging digital twin technology to create intelligent replicas of urban mobility environments, enabling real-time monitoring, analysis, and decision making. Through use cases such as "Smart Parking", "Environmental Behavior Analysis on Traffic Incidents", and "Emergency Management", we demonstrate how digital twins can optimize traffic flow, mitigate environmental impact, and enhance emergency response; these use cases will be tested on a small scale, before deciding on implementation at a larger and more expensive scale. The final outcome is the METACITIES Architecture for smart mobility, which will be part of an Open Digital Twin Framework capable of evolving a smart city into a metacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Positive Energy District Database (PED DB), a pivotal web tool developed collaboratively by the COST Action 'PED-EU-NET', in alignment with international initiatives such as JPI Urban Europe and IEA EBC Annex 83. The PED DB represents a crucial step towards sharing knowledge, promoting collaboration, reinforcing decision-making, and advancing the understanding of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) in the pursuit of sustainable urban environments. The PED DB aims to comprehensively map and disseminate information on PEDs across Europe, serving as a dynamic resource for sustainable urban development according to the objective of making the EU climate-neutral by 2050. Indeed, PEDs imply an integrated approach for designing urban areas—the districts—where a cluster of interconnected buildings and energy communities produce net zero greenhouse gas emissions, managing an annual local/regional overflow production of renewable energy. The paper describes the collaborative step-by-step process leading to the PED DB implementation, the current results and potentials of the online platform, and introduces its future developments towards a more user-friendly and stakeholders-tailored tool. The interactive web map offers a customizable visualizations and filters on multiple information related to PED case studies, PED-relevant cases, and PED Labs. Users can access detailed information through a table view, facilitating comparisons across different PED projects and their implementation phase. The paper offers insights and detailed analysis from the initial dataset that includes 23 PED cases and 7 PED-related projects from 13 European countries, highlighting the key characteristics of surveyed PEDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-Based Solutions concepts and practices are being used worldwide as part of attempts to address societal challenges but have also been criticised for not dealing with deeper transformations needed to face urgent issues including biodiversity loss, climate change and inclusion. In this paper, we explore how an inclusive, integrated and long-sighted approach, emphasising a more radical integration of nature within cities, might support the transformations needed to endure major contemporary challenges. Addressing important emerging critiques of Nature-Based Solutions, we consider the potential of a more incisive form of Nature-Based Thinking (NBT) in cities, based on more holistic perspectives. The paper draws on a reflective and iterative research process that engaged both the research and practice communities through a symposium and a series of futures workshops that together explored the potential of NBT to develop future nature-cities relations in Europe and Latin America. The results of the reflective process suggest that notions of nature with people—not for people— new organisational structures, and the intention and capacity to apply long-term perspectives, are needed when planning for NBS interventions aimed at sustainable urban development. This includes developing a cultural-structural change based on new and inclusive understandings of human–nature relations, and novel governance paradigms that allow cross-sectoral coordination and engagement of local stakeholders beyond formal organisational structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the removal of various monuments commemorating colonial figures, this paper introduces the Empty Plinth as epitomizing postcolonial Europe's identity crisis. As Europe negotiates new discursive foundations for an increasingly multicultural society, this paper argues for a re-membering of Europe through a materialization of Black narratives in the European memoryscape for their potential to: 1) tackle white ignorance and exclusionary nativism by uncovering Europe's contingency upon other(ed) geographies, 2) contribute to creating/fostering a Black sense of place in European cities, and 3) addressing Europe's identity crisis and lay new conceptual foundations for a hybrid and inclusive "Europe." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper assesses the contribution of built cultural heritage to the quality of life in peripheralised small and medium-sized towns (SMTs). While the scientific discourse on peripheralised towns and regions is largely focused on development threats and challenges, this paper highlights heritage as an endogenous resource with the potential to promote a high quality of life in peripheralised towns. A case study covering ten historic towns at the German–Polish border constitutes the basis of the research presented in this paper. Qualitative focus group workshops have been conducted in each town to get detailed insights into the heritage-related quality of life. It appears that under specific conditions, heritage contributes to the quality of life in peripheralised SMTs. This contribution is more pronounced on emotional terms, i.e. regarding meaningful constitutions of place and social cohesion. Practical domains of quality of life related to urban functions or the economy benefit less from the towns' heritage. It follows that the heritage ressources themselves are no warranty for an enhancement of the quality of life in peripheralised SMTs. Exploiting their potential remains context dependent, and peripheralised SMTs are faced with particular socio-spatial challenges in this regard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always remaining in the groove of rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of continuously updating emerging topics concerning relationships between urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers written by young researchers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Urban Practices section aims at presenting recent advancements on relevant topics that underline the challenges that the cities have to face. This note provides an overview of the challenges that global warming poses and the risks in terms of climate change that it generates for territories and cities. The challenges that adaptation to climate change commonly faces are outlined, and a brief review of European case studies is carried out. Finally, the results of the review are discussed highlighting some key threads of climate adaptation practices and three significant examples of climate change adaptation in urban areas are reported, within a perspective of integration and sharing of know-how on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The premise of our research paper is that large (by the size of the population) municipalities are more complex to govern and manage, and this, in turn, calls for a more professional and apolitical local government. Using data from the largest European survey of mayors, we analyzed the influence of mayors and chief administrative officers in Europe and checked for correlations with the size of the local government. We present empirical evidence to support that the perceived influence of mayors varies with the size of the municipality regardless of the institutional configuration of power relationships. We found that very large municipalities (80,000 or more inhabitants) had weaker mayors. The presumption that a larger, more complex local (urban) environment calls for more professional leadership has been addressed in numerous publications; however, the answer was usually beyond the reach of the empirical tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the emerging topics of the international debate for safe mobility in urban areas with an innovative interpretation. This is the bibliometric mapping of the most recurrent concepts (keywords) of almost 80 scientific publications. The paper framework moves from the issue of the sustainability of cities and through a mobility lens. In Europe by 2030 cities have to become climateneutral and some main urban strategy to achieve this result is focused on transport and mobility sectors. The interpretation of the bibliometric mapping results leads to highlighting the shortcomings of some topics within the scientific debate. The Qualiquantitaive Data Analysis was applied to set the interdependency among research fields and better understand the interrelation among the different topics. The key concepts of don't emerge clearly as an object of research and they will be included in future reflections about the transformative capacity of the city through sustainability and in the development of city strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) is on the political agenda as one of the main objectives in order to respond to the increasing degradation processes affecting soils and territories. Nevertheless, proper implementation of environmental policies is very difficult due to a lack of the operational, reliable and easily usable tools necessary to support political decisions when identifying problems, defining the causes of degradation and helping to find possible solutions. It is within this framework that this paper attempts to demonstrate a new valuable web-based operational LDN tool as a component of an already running Spatial Decision Support System (S-DSS) developed on a Geospatial Cyberinfrastructure (GCI). The tool could be offered to EU administrative units (e.g., municipalities) so that they may better evaluate the state and the impact of land degradation in their territories. The S-DSS supports the acquisition, management and processing of both static and dynamic data, together with data visualization and on-the-fly computing, in order to perform modelling, all of which is potentially accessible via the Web. The land degradation data utilized to develop the LDN tool refer to the SDG 15.3.1 indicator and were obtained from a platform named Trends.Earth, designed to monitor land change by using earth observations, and post-processed to correct some of the major artefacts relating to urban areas. The tool is designed to support land planning and management by producing data, statistics, reports and maps for any EU area of interest. The tool will be demonstrated through a short selection of practical case studies, where data, tables and stats are provided to challenge land degradation at different spatial extents. Currently, there are WEBGIS systems to visualize land degradation maps but—to our knowledge—this is the first S-DSS tool enabling customized LDN reporting at any NUTS (nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) level for the entire EU territory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent era of smart city ecosystems and the Internet of Things (IoT), innovative, intelligent parking systems must make cities more sustainable. Every year, the increasing number of city vehicles requires more time to search for parking slots. In large cities, 10% of the traffic congestion occurs because of cruising; drivers spend almost 20 minutes searching for free space to park their vehicles. The passing time of waiting for parking in the traffic leads the issues such as energy, pollution, and stress. There needs to be more than the developed solutions. Therefore, the necessary to create a parking slot availability detection system that informs the drivers in advance about the free parking slot based on location. This paper introduces an enhanced ensemble Deep Learning (DL) model designed to forecast parking slot availability through the integration of IoT, cloud technology, and sensor networks. The devised model, known as Ensemble CNN-Boosted Graph LSTM (ECNN-BGLSTM), is optimized using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) framework. The model's performance is rigorously evaluated using a dataset from Europe, and various metrics, including Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Square Error (MSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), are employed for assessment. The experimental findings demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed model compared to existing state-of-the-art approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The explosion of youth revolts in the long 1970s, including the emergence of environmental activism in western Europe, coincided with the democratization of printing technologies, and led to radical transformation in the production and distribution of knowledge. Publishing became cheap and easy due to the appearance of portable versions of formerly costly and heavy printing machinery and a myriad of self-published zines with an environmentalist tone flourished, disseminating a firm rejection to the post-war consensus of consumerism and growth, denouncing the overarching planning organizations, policies, and strategies. Besides criticism, they also present ways of thinking, living, cooperating, and building that follow different rules and values than consumer capitalism. This contribution identifies a gap in European planning history related to the agency of 1970s' environmental activism and explores the potential of environmentalist zines as sources to sustain historical inquiry and help to fill that gap. It proposes conceptualizing zines as 'minor' sources, arguing that the Deleuzian-Guattarian category is a useful concept for reframing previously marginalized voices in planning history. Through the analysis of seven transnationally published zines, the paper demonstrates their validity as sources that document contributions of voices that have been neglected so far. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring ground deformation at national and regional level with millimetre-scale precision, nowadays, is possible by using Advanced Differential Interferometric SAR (A-DInSAR) techniques. This study concerns the results of the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS), part of the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service, which detects and measures land displacement at European scale. This Service provides reliable and consistent information regarding natural ground motion phenomena such as landslides and subsidence. The ground motion is derived from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) time-series analysis of Sentinel-1A/B data. These data, which provide full coverage of Europe from two different observation geometries (ascending and descending) every six days, are processed at full resolution. The paper is focused on the exploitation of the basic product of EGMS for both regional and local purposes. Analysing the slope and aspect of the deformation field is the novelty of this investigation. In particular, the focus is put on the generation of wide-area differential deformation maps. Such maps indicate the gradient of the deformation field. The obtained information is not only beneficial for monitoring anthropogenic phenomena but also vital for urban management and planning. Most of the significant damages to manmade structures and infrastructures are associated with high deformation gradient values. Thus, monitoring the temporal and spatial variations of deformation gradient is essential for dynamic analysis, early-warning, and risk assessment in urban areas. Although EGMS productions are prepared for monitoring at regional level, their resolutions are high enough to investigate at local level. Therefore, this paper considers the local deformations that affect single structures or infrastructures. Local differences in such deformation can indicate damages in the corresponding structures and infrastructures. We illustrate these types of analysis to generate differential deformation maps using datasets available at CTTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Temporary uses are claimed to be new solutions for urban challenges, especially in a scenario characterized by scarce public-private resources. However, the role of temporariness in urban development is still ambiguous. The paper discusses the concept of temporary urbanism in the light of urban regeneration, other problematic concepts. The paper addresses current urban phenomena proposing a taxonomy of temporary uses to help clarify these ambiguities, highlighting differences and similarities among various European cases. Notably, the contribution aims to discuss whether temporary urbanism can be considered as a new method of urban regeneration or as a tool to perpetrate neoliberal policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: Drones can be a very useful tool to help mosquito control tasks in areas where these insects are an important vector of disease transmission. Storing sterile mosquitoes in drones and releasing them in targeted areas where previous suppression of wild populations has been performed can be a major advance in this methodology. This is part of the sterile insect techniques (SIT) which have been demonstrated to be an environmentally friendly solution for the control of insect pests. However, the use of drones in the areas where these operations are foreseen is limited by the fact that we have a regulation that advances at a slower pace than technology. Of particular interest is the case of the suppression of mosquito populations in urban areas below the transmission threshold, where drones and their operating conditions must meet demanding safety requirements. This article presents the current regulatory situation in Europe that affects drone operations and its applicability to the case of the release of sterile mosquitoes to control the population of these insects in two different scenarios: urban and rural areas. In recent years, several countries have developed the use of sterile insect techniques (SIT) to fight against mosquitoes that transmit diseases. From a technical and economic point of view, the use of drones in the aerial release of sterile mosquitoes leads to important improvements in aerial coverage and savings in operational costs due to the requirement of fewer release sites and field staff. However, these operations are under the European drone regulation, one of the most advanced in the world. The main contribution and novelty of this paper with respect to previous work is the analysis of the SIT application with drones under the European risk-based regulation in two scenarios: urban and rural areas. The specific operations risk assessment (SORA) methodology has been applied to assess the risk of drone operations in these scenarios. The paper presents the operational requirements for aerial release of mosquitoes with drones along with the regulatory considerations that must be applied. Finally, an overview of the conditions in operation that could relax risks and mitigation measures is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many European cities, railway stations have become urban hubs in which a variety of functions and uses are focused. These include retail, cafés, offices and housing. They are often also complemented by adjacent amenity open space, in both hard and soft landscaping, alongside a broader provision for other modes, such as public transport, walking and cycling. In this sense, large-scale transport hubs resemble small-scale city centres and, like other urban centres, the public space in stations should meet the needs of a wide range of users. The design and management of railway stations is highly complex and the risk of such nodes failing as quality public spaces is significant. In addition, railway stations play a pivotal role in encouraging public transport use and they have the potential to contribute to a modal shift from more polluting transport modes. We argue that the design and management of such spaces is a key variable in the modal choices many travellers make. Based on empirical research across Europe, this paper presents a set of indicators for assessing the quality of railway stations and their adjacent areas and summarizes our research findings to increase the attractiveness of rail journeys through enhanced public spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Makeshift camps have increasingly become a permanent presence along border areas and in cities around Europe and elsewhere, constituting a 'hidden geography' that is crucial to overland mobilities of thousands of migrants each year and essential to understanding contemporary informal migration. While there is rich and burgeoning scholarship on makeshift camps, substantial gaps remain in the understanding of these informal geographies which have not yet been conceptualized in terms of the key roles they play in the production of informal migration corridors nor the unique forms of daily life en route that they support, as this paper intends to do. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessments of the bike-sharing industry traditionally focus on its effects on other markets, municipalities, or general well-being. This paper deviates from this on how the market is organised. Using information on the aggregate number of firms in cities and greater cities across Europe, we found non-proportional changes in market size with respect to changes in market structure. This is crucial information inferring changes in profits, costs, or degree of product differentiation. To distinguish between these three sources, we utilised additional firm-level data on capacity and type of service provided. Our results suggest that the non-proportional increase in market size after an entry is most likely associated with increased intensity of competition and new forms of offered services, i.e. product differentiation. We did not find evidence that newcomers have been entering with substantially larger capacities per capita compared to incumbents. From a policy perspective, entry into the bike-sharing industry has benefited consumers through market expansion and caused a potential decrease in profits. • A non-proportional market size increase after the entry of the second and third firms. • No association for entry barriers; no entries with larger capacity. • Increases likely associated with differentiation: entrants likely dockless or e-bikes. • Entry and competition benefited consumers through market expansion and may decrease profits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The positive energy district (PED) is a rather recent concept that aims to contribute to the main objectives of the Energy Union strategy. It is based on an integrated multi-sectoral approach in response to Europe's most complex challenges. But to what extent have its development and implementation been supported by research and innovation programs? And what is the state of the art of its implementation and effective penetration into the current energy systems of European cities, according to the evidence provided by the scientific literature? This study aims to investigate these issues, providing a critical overview of the PED situation by means of a systematic literature review based on the use of open-access bibliometric software supplemented with content analysis. The results show that less than half of the documents analyzed refer to actual case studies, 80% of which were funded as part of research projects. This seems to lead to the conclusion that although PEDs have been strongly encouraged by the scientific community and policy initiatives at the European level, their implementation in cities is still limited. Moreover, an uneven distribution among countries can be observed. To overcome the existing barriers to PED diffusion and implementation, it would be useful to provide more ad hoc funding and, above all, facilitate its accessibility also by municipalities not yet well integrated into European projects, initiatives, and networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a strong degree of interest over the last 30 years towards immigrant segregation in Europe. This paper aims to contribute towards the existing body of research by extending the multi-scalar analysis of patterns of immigrant residential segregation into a coherent international comparative study of cities of different sizes. We investigate the patterns of immigrant-native segregation at different geographical scales, along with their correlates, in more than a hundred cities in 2011 across Germany, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Our findings suggest that cities in the UK are the most highly segregated in Europe. The positions of the other countries in the 'European segregation ranking' depend upon the considered immigrant group and spatial scale. The national context is consistently the most important factor in understanding segregation at multiple spatial scales. However, even while taking into account the national contexts, the structural-ecological factors remain important predictors of segregation patterns in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role played by the position of European regions in research networks on their rate of innovation and economic growth. The analysis is based on a panel of EU-28 NUTS2 regions participating in EU Framework Programmes observed over the 2004–2014 period. We find that regions that are more central in the network (higher strength centrality) and those that are surrounded by highly inter-connected regions (higher clustering index) show higher rates of innovation and higher economic growth. We also find heterogeneous effects of centrality and clustering for peripheral and central regions. We conclude that a more interconnected network (an increase in centrality for peripheral regions and of clustering for urban areas) would create benefits both at the periphery and at the core of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental noise has become one of the principal health risks for urban dwellers and road traffic noise (RTN) is considered to be the main source of these adverse effects. To address this problem, strategic noise maps and corresponding action plans have been developed throughout Europe in recent years in response to the European Noise Directive 2002/49/EC (END), especially in populated cities. Recently, wireless acoustic sensor networks (WASNs) have started to serve as an alternative to static noise maps to monitor urban areas by gathering environmental noise data in real time. Several studies have analysed and categorized the different acoustic environments described in the END (e.g., traffic, industrial, leisure, etc.). However, most of them have only considered the dynamic evolution of the A-weighted equivalent noise levels L A e q over different periods of time. In order to focus on the analysis of RTN solely, this paper introduces a clustering methodology to analyse and group spectro-temporal profiles of RTN collected simultaneously across an area of interest. The experiments were conducted on two acoustic databases collected during a weekday and a weekend day through WASNs deployed in the pilot areas of the LIFE+ DYNAMAP project. The results obtained show that the clustering of RTN, based on its spectro-temporal patterns, yields different solutions on weekdays and at weekends in both environments, being larger than those found in the suburban environment and lower than the number of clusters in the urban scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large amount of policy support is spent to foster the development of rural areas in Europe. However, empirical evidence on the well-being differential between rural and urban areas in Europe is scant and incomplete. The present study develops a systematic literature review on this topic, bridging a gap in research as a systematic analysis on the subject has not been developed as far as we know. It uses the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The review focuses on definitions of rural-urban most used in the literature, main dimensions of well-being that are analyzed, nature of the data and, finally, evidence that emerged regarding the differences in the various dimensions of well-being between rural and urban populations. The analysis confirms that available evidence is controversial and provides advice on how to develop new and better empirical analyses on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intensification of extreme events due climate change and sea-level rise are major challenges to be urgently addressed by Europe's coastal cities. Coastal hazards have the potential to cause significant damage to coastal communities. Nevertheless, various other climate-related hazards also pose imminent threats. This review paper examines the impacts of climate change on ten European coastal cities by means of a participatory process involving the coastal cities and the review of existing literature. Local expertise is included through the novel concept of Coastal City Living Lab. The study also leverages bibliometric analysis of the Scopus and Web of Science databases, along with a desk review of climate-change related institutions and agencies at international, national, regional and local levels. By combining scientific literature analysis with insights from local experts, this research provides a comprehensive overview of the current situation of these diverse cities in relation to multiple climate-related hazards, which can be extrapolated to other cities. There is a scarcity of scientific data for some of the cities, hence collaboration with the CCLLs was crucial. Results serve as a valuable baseline for future works, introducing detail studies focusing on various climate-related challenges. This paper not only contributes novel insights by including the perceptions of local partners but also offers a unique perspective on the complex nature of climate change impacts at city level. • Comprehensive understanding of climate change impacts on coastal cities through multifaceted methodology. • Systematic scientific literature review of Scopus and Web of Science databases. • Local expertise from a collaborative process involving ten diverse European coastal cities. • Unique perspective on the complex nature of climate change impacts at city level. • Baseline for risk assessments and adaptation strategies considering multiple climate-related hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current urban and transport planning practices have significant negative health, environmental, social and economic impacts in most cities. New urban development models and policies are needed to reduce these negative impacts. The Superblock model is one such innovative urban model that can significantly reduce these negative impacts through reshaping public spaces into more diverse uses such as increase in green space, infrastructure supporting social contacts and physical activity, and through prioritization of active mobility and public transport, thereby reducing air pollution, noise and urban heat island effects. This paper reviews key aspects of the Superblock model, its implementation and initial evaluations in Barcelona and the potential international uptake of the model in Europe and globally, focusing on environmental, climate, lifestyle, liveability and health aspects. We used a narrative meta-review approach and PubMed and Google scholar databases were searched using specific terms. The implementation of the Super block model in Barcelona is slow, but with initial improvement in, for example, environmental, lifestyle, liveability and health indicators, although not so consistently. When applied on a large scale, the implementation of the Superblock model is not only likely to result in better environmental conditions, health and wellbeing, but can also contribute to the fight against the climate crisis. There is a need for further expansion of the program and further evaluation of its impacts and answers to related concerns, such as environmental equity and gentrification, traffic and related environmental exposure displacement. The implementation of the Superblock model gained a growing international reputation and variations of it are being planned or implemented in cities worldwide. Initial modelling exercises showed that it could be implemented in large parts of many cities. The Superblock model is an innovative urban model that addresses environmental, climate, liveability and health concerns in cities. Adapted versions of the Barcelona Superblock model are being implemented in cities around Europe and further implementation, monitoring and evaluation are encouraged. The Superblock model can be considered an important public health intervention that will reduce mortality and morbidity and generate cost savings for health and other sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and fringes are often characterised by neglected heritages that affect the perceived quality of life in the territories, especially when it comes to industrial sites. Some studies suggest that their regeneration with social innovation fosters a greater feeling of belonging to the place, creates new socio-cultural activities and new jobs, and increases ground rent. Does this create territorial innovation? What are the impacts of S.I. and T.I. generated by regeneration? This paper aims to assess the average social and territorial innovation impacts of industrial heritage regeneration in cities and fringes and to test the hypothesis of a correlation between them. A mixed methods approach has been adopted with semi-structured telephonic interviews, data analysis, and comparison. 100 examples of industrial heritage regeneration in Europe, equally located in cities and fringes, were analysed. This research offers a novel theoretical contribution to the international literature, corroborating that social innovation plays a vital role in the territorial innovation of cities and fringes. The results show that the greater the social innovation, the higher the level of territorial innovation. Furthermore, this study confirms that innovation depends on location, new uses and regeneration model. These results contribute to the body of knowledge and open new research opportunities in theories and practice for territorial innovation and industrial heritage urban regeneration with social innovation. [Display omitted] • Industrial heritage regeneration with social innovation is a driver for territorial innovation. • Three models of industrial heritage regeneration are identified. • Social innovation and territorial innovation are correlated. • The average impact of social and territorial innovation is higher in ecosystemic models. • The average impact of social and territorial innovation is slightly higher in cities than in fringes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the launch of TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite, NO 2 observations have become available with a resolution of 3.5× 5 km, which makes monitoring NO x emissions possible at the scale of city districts and industrial facilities. For Europe, emissions are reported on an annual basis for country totals and large industrial facilities and made publicly available via the European Environment Agency (EEA). Satellite observations can provide independent and more timely information on NO x emissions. A new version of the inversion algorithm DECSO (Daily Emissions Constrained by Satellite Observations) has been developed for deriving emissions for Europe on a daily basis, averaged to monthly mean maps. The estimated precision of these monthly emissions is about 25 % for individual grid cells. These satellite-derived emissions from DECSO have been compared to the officially reported European emissions and spatial–temporal disaggregated emission inventories. The country total DECSO NO x emissions are close to the reported emissions and the emissions compiled by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). Comparison of the spatially distributed NO x emissions of DECSO and CAMS showed that the satellite-derived emissions are often higher in cities, while they are similar for large power plants and slightly lower in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a previous study, we assessed the efficiency of reducing either traffic or industrial emissions on various ozone metrics for several cities in Europe, based on the Air Control Toolbox surrogate model. Here, we perform various model parametrisation sensitivity analyses in order to assess the robustness of our results. We find that increasing the model resolution has a limited impact on the ozone response to emission changes when focusing on concentration peaks but strongly changes the response of the ozone daily mean with a switch to a titration regime for all zones with significant nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The impact of pollution imported from outside the simulation domain was also studied and we show that if the first lever for action on ozone peaks remains as the reduction of local and regional emissions, in order to achieve higher levels of reduction, it is necessary to act at a European level. We also explore more up-to-date temporal profiles and sectoral emission speciation and find a shift towards a more NOx-limited regime in a number of cities. Overall, these sensitivity tests show that most of the differences are simulated in cities with high NOx emissions and little solar radiation but do not change the overall conclusions that were previously obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this article is to identify and classify smart and sustainable urban mobility solutions in the context of three narratives for sustainable mobility: electromobility, collective transport 2.0 and low-mobility societies. The research process of this study included the following methods: review of the literature, namely, strategic European documents, sustainable urban mobility plans in chosen cities and scientific publications addressing smart and sustainable mobility, case studies of selected cities in Europe and technology mapping to visualize the study results. The main result of this study is the review of various smart and sustainable urban solutions (SSUM) and their classification within the three narratives of electromobility, collective transport 2.0 and low-mobility societies. This article expands the concept of the three narratives for sustainable mobility with the aspect of smart mobility enriched with the variety of example solutions, case studies and good practices within mobility strategies in European cities. The study results can be useful for different stakeholders engaged in developing and introducing the sustainable mobility strategies in cities. Based on the catalogue of SSUM solutions, presented case studies and good practices, they may gain the necessary knowledge, consider the possible initiatives towards green transformation in cities and finally adjust them to the citizens' need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A socio-ecological framework is applied to active travel mode choice • Data from the PASTA study is used, with 4270 participants from 7 European cities • Psychosocial constructs matter more than the built environment • Psychosocial constructs correlate differently to intent and to actual behaviour • Trip purpose changes what matters in the built environment Large efforts and investments have been made into public transport, walking, and cycling in cities around Europe. Yet, cars remain the most ubiquitous mode of travel in urban areas. Often, research into the barriers facing active travel evaluates only one part of the problem, such as a person's surrounding environment (the macro level), socially embedded practices that define the activity (meso level), or a person's own beliefs and sense of identity (micro level). However, barriers and enablers to active travel exist on multiple levels, and interventions to increase walking and/or cycling are less likely to work when implemented in isolation. Hence, a multilevel socio-ecological model is developed to demonstrate and test the importance of assessing these barriers together, and identify interrelationships among them. Using the Physical Activity Through Sustainable Transportation Approaches (PASTA) dataset on the travel behaviour of people in seven different European cities, this paper identifies the constructs that correlate with active travel most. Within PASTA, psychosocial constructs influence the decision to take a trip by bicycle or walk more than built environment variables. In addition, trip purpose and the meso level influence the importance of built environment and attitudinal variables in explaining active travel. These relationships do not vary significantly between cities. This research further supports the use of multi-faceted interventions to increase walking and cycling, rather than focussing on a single policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We use a spatial error model to test the EKC hypothesis on European cities. • The sample is a balanced panel of 922 European cities from 2000 to 2020. • We test CO 2 and SO 2 emissions, PM 2.5 and O 3 concentration and artificial land use. • Depending on the environmental indicator, the EKC takes on different shapes. • Participation in Transnational City Networks can affect EKC curvature. This paper empirically explores the extent to which European cities are on track to sustainable development by examining the environmental performance of a large sample of cities observed during the last two decades. The paper builds on the Environmental Kuznets Curve framework and leverages satellite data to build a set of environmental indicators as varied and as granular as possible. Evidence suggests that European cities are, on average, on track to sustainable development, meaning that the contribution of their economic growth to environmental degradation is already negative or close to becoming so. The paper also examines Transnational City Networks as accelerators of environmental transition. The results suggest that cities participating in such networks anticipate the transition with respect to their peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While concentrations of most air pollutants have been decreasing in Europe over the last 20 years, O 3 is showing variable trends, with increasing average and decreasing peak concentrations. The complexity of O 3 chemistry adds to the difficulty of understanding both the trends observed and how concentrations can be mitigated. This paper tries to answer the following questions: which emission sectors should be targeted and what levels of reduction could be achieved? To address these reflections, an Atlas of O 3 chemical regimes has been constructed. For this Atlas, 22 European cities were selected and the surrogate model Air Control Toolbox (ACT) was used to evaluate the simulated changes in several ozone metrics as a result of reductions in road transport and industrial emissions. O 3 chemical regimes have been classified and put in perspective with meteorological and emission data at each city location and around. The O 3 sensitivity to road transport and industrial emissions differ from one city to another, but also for the same city when considering different ozone metrics and seasons (e.g., annual means versus SOMO35 or summer peaks). Counterproductive impacts yielding O 3 increase when emissions are reduced are mainly encountered in regions or periods where O 3 concentration are relatively low. In terms of meteorological factors, O 3 chemical regimes are mostly impacted by the amount of solar radiation received but wind speed also has a considerable impact. Most cases show a higher sensitivity to emission reductions from road transport or equal sensitivity to emission reductions from road transport and industry. Very few cases are more sensitive to emissions from the industrial sector. However, the response of annual or seasonal average O 3 metrics to industrial and road transport emissions can be considered relatively low with a maximum reduction of 33% for a 100% reduction of both industrial and road transport emissions. This is because anthropogenic emission can only mitigate ozone above a substantial natural tropospheric background. It is precisely this incremental anthropogenic ozone, which should be targeted by efficient policies as we also demonstrate that none of the cities studied would exceed the European target value with a 100% reduction in emissions. • An atlas of ozone chemical regimes has been constructed for 22 European cities. • O 3 sensitivity to road transport and industrial emissions differ when considering different ozone metrics and different periods of the year. • Counterproductive effects of precursors emission reductions on ozone are a concern where and when ozone concentrations are low. • On the contrary, significant reductions of precursor emissions are found to reduce the number of exceedances of the EU target limit value. • In most cities, mitigation of road transport yields larger benefit to ozone air pollution than mitigation of the industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-2008 economic recovery period has seen varying degrees of improvement in the well-being of young individuals across different countries, regions, and cities of the EU. This study contributes to the literature on the geography of well-being by examining the impact of urban economic contexts on the subjective well-being of youth in Europe, a topic that has received limited attention so far. Specifically, we investigate how the local economic context has affected financial satisfaction among the young (15-35 age group) in European cities during the recovery period after the economic crisis. We study whether living in a city with better opportunities in the labor market, on the housing market, or with better local services (e.g., education or health care) affect financial satisfaction among the young. We carried out multilevel analysis of financial satisfaction among young adults on data from the Quality of Life in European Cities survey (years 2012, 2015, 2019), which asks about aspects of quality of life among a representative sample of the population in a large number of cities in EU Member States. Overall, the results suggest that a better labor market context (where it is in general easier to find a job) has a statistically significant positive effect on financial satisfaction among the young. Our results also show that satisfaction with the financial situation among young adults is significantly higher in cities with a higher quality of local social services. On the other hand, we have found only small (and statistically non-significant) contextual effect related to the local housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding black carbon (BC) levels and their sources in urban environments is of paramount importance due to their far-reaching health, climate and air quality implications. While several recent studies have assessed BC concentrations at specific fixed urban locations, there is a notable lack of knowledge in the existing literature on spatially resolved data alongside source estimation methods. This study aims to fill this gap by conducting a comprehensive investigation of BC levels and sources in Modena (Po Valley, Italy), which serves as a representative example of a medium-sized urban area in Europe. Using a combination of multi-wavelength micro-aethalometer measurements and a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian modelling system, we studied two consecutive winter seasons (February–March 2020 and December 2020–January 2021). Leveraging the multi-wavelength absorption analyser (MWAA) model, we differentiate sources (fossil fuel combustion, FF, and biomass burning, BB) and components (BC vs. brown carbon, BrC) from micro-aethalometer measurements. The analysis reveals consistent, minimal diurnal variability in BrC absorption, in contrast to FF-related sources, which exhibit distinctive diurnal peaks during rush hours, while BB sources show less diurnal variation. The city itself contributes significantly to BC concentrations (52 % ± 10 %), with BB and FF playing a prominent role (35 % ± 15 % and 9 % ± 4 %, respectively). Long-distance transport also influences BC concentrations, especially in the case of BB and FF emissions, with 28 % ± 1 % and 15 % ± 2 %, respectively. When analysing the traffic related concentrations, Euro 4 diesel passenger cars considerably contribute to the exhaust emissions. These results provide valuable insights for policy makers and urban planners to manage BC levels in medium-sized urban areas, taking into account local and long-distance sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new spatial typology of climate change risk for European cities and regions. • Response to IPCC call to understand climate change risks at sub-national levels. • Uneven climate change risk across the 33 countries covered by the typology. • Differences in risk profiles facing urban, rural and peri -urban areas. • Evidence of spatial clustering in climate change risk across typology classes. This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of climate change risk through the development of a new spatially-explicit typology of climate risk for European cities and regions. In doing so, it offers a direct response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) call to advance awareness of climate change risks at sub-national levels through the integration of hazard, exposure and vulnerability domains into a composite risk classification that covers the whole of Europe. K-means clustering was applied to 49 variables at NUTS3 level where the final classification resulted in an upper-tier of eight 'classes', which were subsequently partitioned to derive a lower-tier of 31 'sub-classes'. A three-stage analysis of the eight-fold class configuration was then undertaken focusing on the distribution of climate risk classes, raising significant issues to inform climate change adaptation planning policy, practice and research. The analysis revealed an uneven distribution of climate change risk across the 33 countries covered by the typology, reinforcing the IPCC message that adapting and building resilience to climate change risk is not a 'one-size-fits-all' exercise. In the second stage, the analysis focused on determining whether there was a difference in the climate change risk facing different settlement types in Europe. The analysis revealed the extent of variation in the climate change risk characteristics of Europe's urban and rural areas, revealing the potential for peri -urban areas to fall between climate change risk agendas or priorities when compared to urban–rural contexts. The final component of our analysis considered the extent to which climate change risk classes exhibit patterns of spatial clustering. Here we found that climate change risk exhibits evidence of spatial clustering but the extent of the clustering varies between different classes as the relationship between contiguous NUTS3 regions changes. This finding has notable implications for transboundary adaptation planning where discontinuities in political buy-in, competition, resourcing and awareness of risk could serve to undermine the coherence and adequacy of policy responses at a time when greater cooperation and alignment is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat stress in cities is projected to strongly increase due to climate change. The associated health risks will be exacerbated by the high population density in cities and the urban heat island effect. However, impacts are still uncertain, which is among other factors due to the existence of multiple metrics for quantifying ambient heat and the typically rather coarse spatial resolution of climate models. Here we investigate projections of ambient heat for 36 major European cities based on a recently produced ensemble of regional climate model simulations for Europe (EURO-CORDEX) at 0.11 ∘ spatial resolution (∼ 12.5 km). The 0.11 ∘ EURO-CORDEX ensemble provides the best spatial resolution currently available from an ensemble of climate model projections for the whole of Europe and makes it possible to analyse the risk of temperature extremes and heat waves at the city level. We focus on three temperature-based heat metrics – yearly maximum temperature, number of days with temperatures exceeding 30 ∘ C, and Heat Wave Magnitude Index daily (HWMId) – to analyse projections of ambient heat at 3 ∘ C warming in Europe compared to 1981–2010 based on climate data from the EURO-CORDEX ensemble. The results show that southern European cities will be particularly affected by high levels of ambient heat, but depending on the considered metric, cities in central, eastern, and northern Europe may also experience substantial increases in ambient heat. In several cities, projections of ambient heat vary considerably across the three heat metrics, indicating that estimates based on a single metric might underestimate the potential for adverse health effects due to heat stress. Nighttime ambient heat, quantified based on daily minimum temperatures, shows similar spatial patterns to daytime conditions, albeit with substantially higher HWMId values. The identified spatial patterns of ambient heat are generally consistent with results from global Earth system models, though with substantial differences for individual cities. Our results emphasise the value of high-resolution climate model simulations for analysing climate extremes at the city level. At the same time, they highlight that improving the predominantly rather simple representations of urban areas in climate models would make their simulations even more valuable for planning adaptation measures in cities. Further, our results stress that using complementary metrics for projections of ambient heat gives important insights into the risk of future heat stress that might otherwise be missed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time of rising urbanisation and climate change, urban green spaces (UGSs) are an essential element to help adapt to extreme weather events. Especially in urban core areas, heat and drought are regarded as human stress factors. The delineation of such areas constitutes an important reference geometry in topographic geodata (urban mask). This article deals with possibilities for investigating UGSs in European cities—based on unified urban masks—by applying city-wide metrics to Copernicus data (Urban Atlas including the Street Tree Layer). Both public and tree-covered urban green spaces are examined in detail. Selected results are presented for 30 European cities that display a wide range of urban structures. The spatial reference to uniformly delineated urban masks places the analytical focus of city-wide metrics onto corresponding core areas. In general, the values of UGS metrics vary considerably between cities, indicating the strong influence of city-specific factors on urban structures in Europe. For the comparative analysis of tree-covered urban areas, the Urban Green Raster Germany and a municipal tree register are used to provide additional data sources. The regular updating of the Copernicus dataset means that green spaces in European cities can be monitored, also using urban masks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We focus on the extent to which polycentric urban regions can substitute for the agglomeration economies provided by large cities. Building on an open‐source software tool that helps identifying polycentric developments in urban regions, we analyse the spatial structure (in terms of size, dispersion and polycentricity) of 94 regions across 34 European countries and link this to their level of total factor productivity. We find that both more polycentric regions and more dispersed regions are associated with lower productivity levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European regions with a lower population density have greater structural difficulties in ensuring that the daily life of their inhabitants matches that of more populated regions. This problem persists in groups of people who present some type of disability. Soria (Spain) is one of such regions. It is considered the most depopulated region of Southern Europe. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyse the reality of people with disabilities in one of the provinces with a lower population density. It also seeks to explore the relationship between the perceptions and the reality of the existing structure to infer the promotions or limitations of agency. To this end, we conducted a systematic review of the existing literature, a sociogeographic study of the study context, and a mixed investigation. The results show that the greatest problem lies in the cities and towns located far away from the capital city, causing budget cutbacks and, therefore, reducing the attention to the needs of people with disabilities. However, social solidarity has increased, which is perceived as greater social inclusion for this group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivation: The issue of rural development is an important topic from the perspective of the science of territorial development for several reasons. First, from the perspective of the growing importance of cities, with which the depopulation of the countryside is associated. Secondly, from the point of view of the development opportunities of non-urbanized areas, whose position in the context of fund distribution is weak. Finally, from the point of view of the possibility of diversifying food production, to which much attention is currently being paid in Europe and around the world. However, as studies show, not only the existence, but the development of rural areas is a determinant of the development of urban areas. Aim: The purpose of the article is to demonstrate that rural development continues to be a significant challenge, while especially important for this development is the involvement of people -- entrepreneurial leaders. Results: As a result of the study, it was possible to gain input in the form of knowledge regarding the differential impact of the rural development factors identified in the study. The phenomenon of the possibility of digitization of social and business life, which has emerged as globalization has progressed, and quite clearly as a result of the pandemic, has shown that it is a factor of great importance in leveling the marginalization of rural areas. What's more, the entrepreneurship of rural leaders is a key element in building strategies for the development of these areas, even outweighing the factor of a financial and administrative nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time automatic and accurate measurement of the mass of ultrafine particles is especially challenging due to their low concentrations and the interferences of larger particles. This work introduces a new method to estimate PM0.1 continuously. Based on the theoretical predictions of a 3-D chemical transport model, PM0.1 and N50 (number concentration of particles with a diameter above 50 nm) can have a very good correlation. This hypothesis is tested in this work by analyzing hourly measurements of size distributions, from different cities in Europe for a year. PM0.1 had a strong spatial and temporal correlation with N50 (R2 > 90%). The line passing through zero had an average slope of 0.16 ± 0.01 × 10−9 µg, for an assumed particle density equal to 1 g cm−3. This suggests that PM0.1 can be, at least in principle, measured indirectly but quite accurately and continuously by measuring N50 with a suitable condensation particle counter. Copyright © 2023 American Association for Aerosol Research [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 outbreak has mostly affected people in the second half of their lives, at risk of isolation and loneliness; in fact, the impact of the pandemic was even more severe for the well-being of the elderly. Such a recent event has to be framed within the challenge of the demographic increase of people aged 65 years or older, which is particularly relevant in the European context. This paper explores which gaps have to be filled up in order to make cities a suitable place for the elderly to live in, particularly after any emergence of dysfunction and fragility in health, employment, transportation and welfare systems due to the pandemic. We assess the relative contribution of each regressor to the explained variance, that may advise policy makers about which urban features are perceived to be the most relevant for the elderly, even before the pandemic, and must be implemented. Our results have several policy implications. The assessment should provide a contribution to European decision-making processes headed to improve the perception of age-friendliness in urban environments, implementing a paradigm for reference, given the great heterogeneity of features characterizing European cities. • It is important to understand suitability of urban environments for the elderly. • The analysis covers 83 cities in Europe and the perceptions of their citizens. • The age-friendly city environment was associated with an elder-friendly city. • The R-squared decomposition identifies the most relevant features of cities. • Our results contribute to improve policies for cities after Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities across Mediterranean Europe face common climatic threats. They are highly vulnerable and very likely to suffer losses and damages due to heat waves, droughts, wildfires, landslides, and extreme coastal events. To this date, however, there is no systematic understanding of how cities in Mediterranean Europe are preparing to adapt to these impacts. To address this question, we analyse local adaptation plans in 73 cities located in 51 regions across 9 European countries along the Mediterranean Sea (France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Croatia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta). We also investigate upper levels of planning to understand the influence of policy environments. Across the sample, 67 % of regions have adopted a plan, but only 30 % of the cities. The most common climate-related hazards these cities prepare for are extreme temperatures and rainfall, followed by drought and water scarcity, as well as floods and landslides. Without legal obligations, neither regional nor national adaptation policy frameworks seem to influence the development of urban plans. In some cases, cities are ahead of national policy. This paper sheds light on the progress of local adaptation planning in Mediterranean Europe and paves the way for further research in this climate-threatened geographical area. [Display omitted] • ME faces severe climate hazards, faster and stronger than global averages. • We analyse adaptation plans in 73 cities across 51 regions and 9 ME countries. • 30 % of cities and 67 % of regions in Mediterranean Europe have adaptation plans. • Regions plan more for adaptation when action plans from national governments are in place. • Common concerns are urban temperature and rainfall, drought, and water scarcity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Agent-Based Model to emulate real-world performance of microgrid with P2P trading. • Holistic simulation of economic, technical, and ecological metrics. • Validation of Model with urban area of medium-sized German city. • Comparison of microgrid metrics before and during the European energy crisis. • Conclusions for research, practice, and energy policy. The shift towards renewable energy sources (RES) in energy systems is becoming increasingly important. Residential energy generation and storage assets, smart home energy management systems, and peer-to-peer (P2P) electricity trading in microgrids can help integrate and balance decentralized renewable electricity supply with an increasingly electrified power, heat, and transport demand, reducing costs and CO 2 emissions. However, these microgrids are difficult to model because they consist of autonomous and interacting entities, leading to emergent phenomena and a high degree of complexity. Agent-based modeling is an established technique to simulate the complexity of microgrids. However, the existing literature still lacks real-world implementation studies and, as a first step, models capable of validating the existing results with real-world data. To this end, we present an agent-based model and analyze the corresponding microgrid performance with real-world data. The model quantifies economic, technical, and environmental metrics to simulate microgrid performance holistically and, in line with state-of-the-art research, consists of self-interested, autonomous agents with specific load profiles, RES generation, and demand-response potential. The model can simulate a P2P marketplace where electricity is traded between agents. In the second part of the paper, we validate the model with data from a medium-sized German city. In this case study, we also compare microgrid performance in 2022, during the energy market crisis in Europe, with historical data from 2019 to assess the effects of energy market shocks. Our results show how microgrids with P2P trading can reduce electricity costs and CO 2 emissions. However, our trading mechanism illustrates that the benefits of energy-community trading are almost exclusively shared among prosumers, highlighting the need to consider distributional issues when implementing P2P trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union's objective to stop land take by 2050 calls for a paradigmatic shift in urban development. While the reduction of land take may no longer be a matter for debate, the lack of clarity regarding the definition of the phenomenon and the way it should be monitored and tackled can nevertheless have counterproductive consequences. This paper highlights the importance of considering the degree of soil sealing in land take mitigation strategies, with the aim of ensuring that the EU objective is not achieved at the cost of the unsustainable intensification of land use within already artificial urban areas. The research relies on an analysis carried out of Europe's 100 largest cities, in which the rates of soil sealing within the artificial areas of the urban morphological zones were measured. These rates range from 31.5 % to 72.6 %, underlining the diversity of contexts and the need for tailored approaches. • The land use rate in the morphological urban cores of the 100 European cities studied varies between 74. 2% and 96.4 %. • The rate of soil sealing varies between 31.5% and 72.6%, which shows the differences in internal densification potential. • The different configurations of European cities underline the need to develop tailored strategies to reduce land take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]