CLR made people-driven renovations a central topic at Sustainable Places 2025

At Sustainable Places 2025, the Support service for Citizen-led renovation made people-powered renovation a key topic in two sessions. These sessions highlighted how citizen engagement and collaborative innovation are driving the transformation of Europe’s built environment and energy systems.

In the session titled Scaling Impact – Collaborative Renovation for a Resilient Future, which was moderated by Stavros Spyridakos, participants explored how European initiatives are reshaping the renovation landscape through advanced materials, digital tools, and financial innovation.

• Stavros Spyridakos (IEECP), representing the Support service for Citizen-Led Renovation (CLR), will share insights into the challenges, lessons learned and inspiring cases from the second phase of implementation, in which energy communities were supported with technical design, business models and engagement strategies.
• Łukasz Wilczyński (ASM), Dissemination Manager of MULTICARE, will present plug-and-play façade systems and digital tools that enhance multi-hazard resilience and user-centric renovation, now being tested in test labs.
• Florence Kuijl (InnovaWood), representing AEGIR, will showcase modular, renewable, and industrialised building envelopes combining biobased insulation, smart ventilation, and flexible PV systems, currently being implemented in demo buildings.
• Marianne Kemmer (IAQS), Project Director of the Indoor Air Quality Society, will highlight collaborative actions and science-based solutions to improve indoor air quality and public health through education and stakeholder engagement from the project’s demonstration phase.
• Javier Antolín Gutiérrez (CARTIF), Coordinator of REHOUSE, will present eight integrated renovation packages deployed across four European demo sites, combining technical innovation with social engagement, circularity, and digital support tools.
• Dr. Paola Zerilli (University of York), Scientific Coordinator of SUPERSHINE, will present the project’s approach to financing deep renovation in social housing districts. She will focus on the use of time-varying Social Discount Rates (SDR) in structuring Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contracts, enabling equitable risk-sharing between ESCOs, public authorities, and housing associations while ensuring bankability, emissions reduction, and affordability.

The discussion emphasised that renovation must begin with people. Empowering citizens, building trust, and fostering active participation were identified as essential to ensuring motivation and ownership in the transition process. The session also stressed the importance of adopting a resilience-oriented and circular approach, integrating low-carbon and adaptable solutions to enhance the durability and climate preparedness of buildings.

Indoor air quality and public health emerged as central renovation objectives, linking energy performance to comfort and long-term well-being. The session showcased industrialised and modular retrofitting systems that incorporate renewable energy and digitalisation, accelerating the transformation of existing buildings into nearly zero-energy assets. Prefabrication and circular construction were presented as key strategies to make large-scale renovation more affordable and inclusive, while aligning with EU policy frameworks. Innovative financial and governance models, such as blended financing and public–private partnerships, were discussed as viable pathways to enable deep renovation in social and affordable housing contexts. The session concluded with a strong call for cross-sector collaboration, urging policymakers, local authorities, investors, and citizens to work together to translate research outcomes into tangible improvements in people’s lives.

The second session, Strategic Citizen Engagement and Impact in Positive Energy Districts, brought together multiple European initiatives focused on developing Positive Energy Districts (PEDs).

• InterPED: Different Approaches to Ensuring Citizen Impact in PED Projects.
• TIPS4PED: Demonstrating the application of digital twins in urban transition ensuring citizen centric impact.
• ARV: Strategic Engagement of Residents in Sustainable Urban Renovation: A Povo Case Study
• COMMUNITAS: Engaging citizens by co creation and UX/UI research of digital energy tools
• PEDvolution: Empowering PED innovation, on a tradition of local community engagement
• Citizen-led Renovation: Scaling methodologies from energy communities to Positive Energy Districts (PEDs)
• ASCEND: Co-creating cities: Citizen and Stakeholder engagement in PCED design through innovative digital tools (PCED Card Game)
• NEUTRALPATH: Citizens Awareness and co-creation for PCEDs designs through Climate neutral labs.
• LEGOFIT: Platform for citizen and stakeholder engagement in Energy Positive Homes (EPH)

 The conversation centred on practical methods for citizen engagement, co-creation, and social innovation at the neighbourhood scale. Participants highlighted that citizens are not merely end-users but co-designers of energy-positive districts. Engagement strategies are increasingly embedded in digital tools, participatory governance models, and local experimentation.

The Citizen-led Renovation Initiative presented its approach to scaling citizen-led renovation and energy community frameworks within the PED context. This ensures that local engagement practices directly inform technical design, operation, and replication strategies. The session underlined the importance of structured citizen support mechanisms — including communication platforms, interactive tools, and long-term facilitation — to maintain motivation and inclusion throughout PED implementation. Digital co-creation instruments, gamification, and local climate labs were showcased as effective ways to translate complex energy concepts into accessible and participatory experiences.

Participants also identified cross-project synergies aimed at developing comparable metrics and shared evaluation methods for social impact, fostering consistency and knowledge exchange across PED demonstrators. The session concluded with a clear message: the success of Positive Energy Districts depends on integrating citizen-led and community-based approaches as central pillars of planning, enabling both social acceptance and long-term sustainability.