Spatial Justice through Participatory Planning: Designing a Just Participatory Process

This interactive workshop invites urban planners, designers, and researchers to co-create a participatory process by linking UP2030 tools to the SJ-3A³ framework, a model that integrates a strategic planning cycle with three core dimensions of public participation (arenas, aims, actors) and spatial justice (distributive, procedural, and recognition justice). Participants will apply the framework to design a participatory process for either real or imagined cases, aligning tools to different planning phases, from visioning to piloting,
whilst reflecting on spatial justice implications.

Key Objectives
• Enable participants to design participatory processes guided by strategic planning theory and grounded in spatial justice.
• Explore how participation tools align with planning phases and spatial justice
dimensions.
• Collect structured feedback on strategies for participatory planning via a poster.
• Build a network to exchange and disseminate practical strategies for participatory planning.

Expected Outcomes
• Interactive poster activity to gather feedback on participatory planning strategies from the discussion and case studies.
• Participants will receive a set of tool cards featuring the participatory platforms and methods developed across the project.
• The cards are designed to support post-workshop reflection and inspire continued conversations with colleagues - offering practical ideas for embedding participation and spatial justice into urban planning practice

Digital tools supporting buildings decarbonization in an urban context

This session will introduce the Integrated Digital Twin—a suite of digital tools co-developed by four partners to accelerate decarbonization in the built environment. With a focus on building energy renovations from
2025 to 2050, the session will feature live demonstrations, insights from tool integration, and an open discussion on how digital and data driven technologies can support the energy transition in buildings.

Key Objectives
• Demonstrate the functionalities and integration of advanced digital tools for urban decarbonization.
• Showcase the capabilities of the Integrated Digital Twin, combining building energy modeling, AI, 2D/3D visualization, and life cycle emission analysis.
• Assess energy renovation strategies through scenario-based simulations, including improvements in building envelopes, heat pump deployment, and rooftop PV integration.
• Provide decision-makers with a robust digital environment to evaluate multiple variables at the urban scale, such as long-term energy consumption, emission reductions as well as LCA and economic indicators.

Expected Outcomes
• Increased understanding of how integrated digital tools support data-driven urban decarbonization strategies.
• Practical insights into evaluating renovation scenarios using multi-dimensional indicators.
• Feedback from stakeholders on improving tool usability and integration

Scaling Up Urban Climate Solutions for achieving climate neutrality

How do cities move beyond pilots to deliver scalable, climate neutral urban solutions? This workshop presents tools, financial models, and governance strategies tested by more than 10 cities. Designed for urban planners, municipal leaders, and solution providers, it offers practical pathways to expand demonstration projects into investable, city-scale interventions.

Key Objectives
• Share practical tools and frameworks for scaling urban pilots into citywide, investable solutions.
• Highlight real-world strategies from 10 UP2030 cities on governance, finance, and implementation.
• Equip city actors with methods to assess readiness, unlock funding, and overcome institutional barriers.
• Enable dialogue between cities, solution providers, and financiers on scaling challenges and opportunities.

Expected Outcomes
• Access to tools and proven approaches for scaling.
• Insights into enablers of successful upscaling—political, institutional, and financial.
• New cross-sector collaborations.
• Actionable lessons to guide planning and investment-readiness for climate-neutral cities.

Data Governance and digital planning

Digital planning is increasingly central to shaping climate-neutral, just and resilient cities. This round table session brings together digital tool developers and urban practitioners to exchange insights on practical applications, technical capabilities, and real-world case studies. After a series of brief presentations, participants will engage in an open dialogue exploring how these tools can be adapted to diverse urban contexts and how collaboration can be deepened. Drawing on experiences from UP2030, the session will also reflect on lessons learned in co-developing tools with cities, offering a unique opportunity to align future efforts across projects and partnerships.