DG ENER Seminar: Co-creational approach promoting happier, healthier and more connected communities

Abstract

The following presentation/seminar would be the result of a personal invitation to be the key speaker of a DG ENER Seminar entitled 'Co-creational approach promoting happier, healthier and more connected communities'.

The presentation focussed on how to best approach the development of sustainable cities through co-creational design. The outcomes and experiences of an approach entitled the City-zen Roadshow, which had been developed over a 5 year period through EU funding would be the focus, particularly the case of the Nicosia Roadshow.

The aim of the Policy Officer seminar was to find better ways of developing calls that would involve similar 'Roadshow' initiatives in the future. The seminar was entitled 'Co-creational approach promoting happier, healthier and more connected communities'. Discussion focused on the challenges, successes and future developments.

The seminar would be Introduced by Haitze Siemers (Head of Unit New energy technologies and innovation at the EU Commission) on the 9th October at Rue Jean-André de Mot 24, 1040 Brussels, Room DM24.

Supplemental Information:

Organization: The Directorate-General for Energy (DG Ener) is one of 33 policy-specific departments in the European Commission. It focuses on developing and implementing the EU's energy policy – secure, sustainable, and competitive energy for Europe.

Topic: Creative and radical solutions are key to ensure future carbon neutrality and family wellbeing at the heart of local communities. But the solutions are complex, and if delivered conventionally may have the effect of alienating local stakeholder audiences. For stakeholder engagement, experts must make a point of exercising and advancing verbal, graphical and pedagogic communication skills that enthuse and inspire communities. The ‘City-zen’ Smart City project has developed the ‘Roadshow’ methodology and engaged in one-week live, co-creation initiatives in several cities, meeting the challenge of delivering sustainability expertise locally.

Speaker: Craig Lee Martin is a Professor of Architecture at the Grenfell-Baines Institute of Architecture (UCLan) and TU Delft. He has led and developed the City-zen ‘Roadshow’. With a specialism in sustainable urban design and co-creational methods he continues to advance ways of bringing stakeholders into the creative process. Demonstrating that sustainability is not only for experts, but for anyone, of any background who simply want a future for their local communities.