Grazia Concilio at “Climate Neutral and Smart Cities” meeting in Vilnius

From 6 to 8 May was held the fourth edition of the Cities Mission Conference, around the theme “Harnessing City Successes: Advancing Climate Action for 2030”. It was held in Vilnius, EU Green Capital of 2025.

One working session was dedicated to discussing the interplay between Urban Planning and Design for Climate Impact, in which Grazia Concilio took part. The three cluster projects, Climaborough, Re-Value, Up-2030 reflected together with several cities, about the mission and role that Climate City Contracts are playing within the general framework of urban planning.

The learnings that came out of this interesting exchange are: that differences in conceptualization of urban planning affect the approach. Some cities address the Climate City Contracts as strategic planning framework driving and shaping actions and decisions accross urban sectors; whilst others manage the Climate City Contracts as planning instruments complementary to others already in place.

Some questions to mull over: To what extent we do need to rethink urban planning? How can urban planning take into account specific solutions that are being designed and experimented all over even at sub-urban scale (many experiments are taking place in neighborhoods!)? Is the climate challenge asking urban planning to rethink and reshape itself?  

Speakers included: Thiago Tavares, Alisa Krumm, Vassilis Akylas, Davide Miceli, Matteo Satta, Grazia Concilio, Annemie Wyckmans.

Find out more about the conference and speakers: