Looking Back: The DUT Urban Doers Community

The Urban Doers Community recently gathered in Lisbon for a dynamic three-day event to discuss lessons learned and develop policy recommendations. Their insights and experiences, as well as policy recommendations, will be published in November.

‘Urban Doers’ is a term DUT uses to refer to grassroot organisations, associations and small businesses that drive change in cities. In 2023, DUT created the Urban Doers Community as a pilot project to connect local change-makers with European ambitions.

For over a year, 20 local initiatives have been working at the local level, increasing community engagement and influencing urban planning in municipalities. Through their efforts, Urban Doers are taking the lead and supporting city authorities to make progress in key areas such as circularity, mobility and energy.

How do local initiatives support citizens and municipalities?

Video: Urban Doers initiatives shared experiences from driving change in cities at an event in Lisbon. 

Increasing circularity of materials

Municipal waste comes in all sizes and materials, from discarded wooden furniture and food waste, to traditionally recycled materials, such as plastics, paper, cardboard, metals and glass. Initiatives such as Susdesign in Lisbon, Portugal, and Imperfect and Groupe One in Brussels, Belgium, are working to reduce waste in cities. 

“In Belgium, waste is managed by local authorities and it is usually burned. Instead, they should work with initiatives like ours that can reuse resources like wood, clothes and other materials to reduce waste. It is our goal to promote similar public-private partnerships for the urban transition to happen.”

– Léa Raymakers, Team Leader at Groupe One

Listening and empowering communities

Some initiatives, such as Plan Net Zero in Lodz, Poland, and Supergrätzl Lichtental in Vienna, Austria, have developed a workshop methodology and run workshops in neighbourhoods to improve specific areas of their city.

These initiatives goal is often to involve neighbours in the urban planning process and to create a sense of ownership and agency among residents. This, in turn, can lead to greater acceptance of specific urban planning changes, from which communities and city authorities can benefit.

Establishing alternative ways of producing and using energy

Several Urban Doers initiatives focus on improving energy efficiency and reducing energy poverty. This is the case of the Telheiras Renewable Energy Community in Lumiar-Lisbon, Portugal, and the Solidarity Economy Center in Budapest, Hungary.

For example, the Solidarity Economy Center worked on an energy community energy initiative and facilitated the establishment of a financing scheme energy efficient renovations in a village. To do so, they developed recommendations based on interviews. One of the results was suggesting an interest-free loan provided by the municipality and modelling projects that they can learn from. Similarly, the Telheiras Renewable Energy Community facilitates energy poor families to become members of the energy community letting them not to pay the entrance fee for the installation of solar panels.

While this pilot project is coming to an end, the results of the Urban Doers’ activities are here to stay

Moving forward, the community aims to continue its efforts in increasing circularity of materials, listening and empowering communities, and establishing alternative ways of generating and using energy.