On November 3th, the UP2030 project held its highly anticipated final event in Barcelona, gathering project partners, urban experts, and city representatives to reflect on three years of collaboration toward just, resilient, and climate-neutral cities. The conference took place in the stunning Recinte Modernista de Sant Pau, one of Barcelona’s most iconic architectural venues, providing an inspiring setting for a day dedicated to forward-looking urban transformation. The Law and Internet Foundation, a proud partner in the UP2030 consortium, participated in the event, contributing to the exchange of knowledge and experiences accumulated throughout the project.
The final event, titled “Cities in Action,” brought together practitioners and researchers committed to turning climate ambition into real, scalable change. The event began with welcome remarks from the UP2030 project coordinators, followed by a double keynote debate exploring the persistent gap between climate planning and real-world implementation.
Throughout the day, participants engaged in a rich mix of plenary sessions, lectures, workshops, and tool demonstrations, including:
- Systemic approaches for climate implementation through justice and resilience perspectives
- Urban planning insights from other EU projects such as Climaborough and Re-Value
- City spotlight sessions featuring Belfast, Budapest, Rotterdam, Münster, Granollers, Milan, Lisbon, Thessaloniki, Rio de Janeiro, Zagreb, and Istanbul
- Workshops on participatory planning, digital twins for decarbonisation, and scaling up urban climate solutions
- A dedicated session on data governance and digital planning, bringing together tool developers and practitioners
The programme reflected UP2030’s core mission: enabling cities to design and implement actionable pathways toward climate neutrality while ensuring that social justice and community participation remain central.
As a project partner engaged in topics such as urban governance, participatory processes, and digital innovation, LIF’s involvement throughout UP2030 has focused on ensuring that emerging climate solutions are inclusive, transparent, and supported by sound legal and ethical frameworks.
The final event provided an opportunity for the representatives of the Law and Internet Foundation to exchange perspectives with city representatives, research institutions, and technology developers on how digital tools and participatory approaches can be designed and implemented in ways that uphold legal compliance, protect fundamental rights, and ensure ethical use of data and technology within the climate action context.
LIF representatives highlighted the value of the event in strengthening collaboration within the consortium and in gaining deeper insights into how cities across Europe can advance climate neutrality while maintaining strong legal and ethical safeguards.
The UP2030 final event marked not only the conclusion of the project’s official activities but also the beginning of new cross-sector collaborations. The discussions and tools presented in Barcelona showcased how integrated planning, community engagement, and data-driven decision-making can empower cities to lead the way toward a climate-neutral Europe.
LIF remains committed to supporting this mission and looks forward to continuing its work on just and resilient urban transformations.
