At the Driving Urban Transitions Partnership PED Conference in Milan, our team members — Prof. Xingxing Zhang (Högskolan Dalarna), Assoc. Prof. Gireesh Nair (Umeå University), and Ghazal Etminan (AIT Austrian Institute of Technology) — joined colleagues from across Europe to celebrate a remarkable milestone: over 100 Positive Energy District pilots are now active across the continent! 🎉
Key takeaways from the discussions included:
🌍 The viability of PEDs requires structural and systemic change.
🗣️ We need a compelling narrative that speaks to policymakers and citizens alike.
🤝 Citizen-driven and context-based approaches are essential for PEDs to make sense in people’s everyday lives.
Although PED-ACT officially concludes this month, our partnership and collaboration continue — carrying forward the project’s spirit through initiatives like the PED Manifesto (you can read our version on https://ped-act.com/pedmanifesto/), first launched by our partner Wonderland and later expanded by the wider PED community.
Together, we keep working toward a shared European vision of climate-neutral cities, advancing digital PED references, data-driven insights, and socially inclusive approaches to sustainable urban transformation.
