Two minutes to rethink the scale of urban decarbonisation.

How can European cities become climate-neutral while transforming existing neighbourhoods, buildings and public spaces?

The DECUB project (Decarbonizing Urban Blocks) is exploring a new approach by focusing on the urban block as a strategic scale for urban transformation.

Rather than addressing buildings individually, DECUB looks at the connections between buildings, public spaces, resources and communities. This perspective makes it possible to integrate decarbonisation, climate adaptation and circularity into urban planning.

The project is testing this approach in three European cities: Zaragoza (Spain), Heerlen (the Netherlands) and Verviers (Belgium). Each city presents a different urban context and challenge. In Zaragoza, the focus is on improving the energy performance of social housing in a historic neighbourhood affected by increasingly frequent heatwaves. In Heerlen, the project explores the adaptive reuse of a former office building in a post-industrial context. In Verviers, DECUB addresses climate adaptation in the historic city following the severe floods of 2021.

Through Urban Living Labs, municipalities, practitioners and local communities work together to explore and evaluate different transformation scenarios. Their local knowledge, priorities and experience are an essential part of the process.

DECUB also uses digital twins at the urban-block scale, combining urban data, environmental assessment and local knowledge to compare scenarios and support better-informed decisions.

The knowledge, methods and tools developed through the project aim to be transferable to other urban contexts, helping cities across Europe move towards more resilient, circular and climate-neutral neighbourhoods.