Limerick’s Citizen Innovation Lab hosted a symposium on October 13th. At the event +CityxChange project partners presented infrastructural demonstrators, and shared insights and learning from project implementation to date, with Dublin and Cork – the Irish cities taking part in the “100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030” Mission. The invited audience included people from government departments, local authorities, academia and state agencies involved in the delivery of Ireland’s Climate Action Plan and Cities Mission.
At the symposium, Limerick City and County Council presented an overview of the +CityxChange Demonstration Projects. The project’s systematic co-creation approach, CommuntyxChange, was presented by University of Limerick, and its alignment with the New European Bauhaus policy initiative explored. Citizen Innovation Lab Stories told by Positive Energy Champions demonstrated citizen interactions with digital tools for collaboration and project impact in Limerick. During the event the Limerick Energy Model and the Community Mapping Tool were demonstrated in the Citizens’ Observatory, and there were tours of the School of Architecture at University of Limerick’s Fab Lab Limerick.
Limerick based SME, GKinetic Energy Ltd., detailed the development of their tidal turbine where stakeholder engagement enabled by the project’s open innovation approach informed the evolution and siting of their design. IES R&D presented Limerick’s decarbonisation roadmap to 2050. This scenario was developed using the Limerick Energy Model, the Decision Support Tool and digital twin of the city created through +CityxChange.
The Cities Mission was introduced by Thomas Osdoba, coordinator of the Net Zero Cities consortium. He spoke of the potential of cross-city collaboration through a National Cities Mission Platform. Julio Lumbreras, also of Net Zero Cities, shared details of CitiES 2030, the Cities Mission Platform in Spain. This was the start of an important conversation on cross-city collaboration in Ireland.
Nuala Gallagher, Director of Planning Environment and Placemaking, Limerick City and County Council, opened the symposium. Ciarán Cuffe MEP gave a keynote address on the critical need to progress to achieve the objectives of the European Green Deal. Borislava Woodford of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre introduced the New European Bauhaus policy initiative. There were contributions from Stephen Kinsella, Helena Fitzgerald, Tom O’Brien, Helena Kelly, Veronica Santorum, Andrew O’ Connell, Úna Walsh, Sinead Hourigan, Rosie Lynch, Merritt Bucholz, Rosie Webb, Terry Connolly, Gary Brennan, Niall Byrne, Gerard Walsh, Susan Pierce, Ciarán Hayes, Thomas Osdoba, Sabrina Dekker; Paul McGuirk; John O Neill; Julio Lumbreras and Liam Bergin. Professor Kerstin Mey, President of University of Limerick gave the closing address.
The symposium was supported by the Government of Ireland’s Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the Value and Empower strand of the National Policy on Architecture. It wished to amplify the Citizen Innovation Lab’s citizen-centric approach to innovation, which embraces the New European Bauhaus values of sustainability, beauty and inclusion. It was great to see so many people gather in Limerick’s Citizen Innovation Lab for this event.
Recordings of The Limerick Symposium – Integrating the New European Bauhaus (NEB) into Ireland’s Climate Transition are also available to view. The three panel sessions include:
- The New European Bauhaus policy initiative – It’s not just that we decarbonise that is important, how we do it is important too.
- The +CityxChange approach to decarbonising cities – A Limerick story of NEB before NEB.
- City Collaboration and the Climate Neutral Cities Mission in Ireland.
Photos courtesy of Helena Fitzgerald and Úna Walsh.
