A new European project, RENEW-Futures, officially kicked off online on 8 September, bringing together 14 partners from 10 EU and non-EU countries to advance a new approach to the design and transformation of European neighborhoods.
Funded by the European Union, RENEW-Futures aims to make the values of the New European Bauhaus (sustainable, inclusive and beautiful), actionable at neighborhood scale. The project brings together digital innovation, regenerative design, community engagement and interdisciplinary research to support the development of neighborhoods that are environmentally positive, socially inclusive and resilient.
At the heart of RENEW-Futures are three key innovations supporting the transition towards regenerative neighborhoods:
Regenerative Design Tool (RN-DT): A digital-twin environment combining water, energy, materials and biodiversity modelling with social, cultural and health indicators, enabling users to explore scenarios and assess whole-life performance.
Community Co-Creation Tool: An immersive AR/VR environment that makes design scenarios easier to visualize and explore, supporting inclusive collaboration between residents, communities and local stakeholders.
Regenerative Framework: An interdisciplinary, water-sensitive methodology integrating social, lifecycle, circularity and sufficiency principles to support regenerative and socially inclusive neighborhood design.
The project will also develop a Regenerative Evidence Atlas featuring 14 European building case studies, identifying success factors, barriers and policy enablers to support future replication. The tools and framework will be tested through five demonstrators in Pomaretto (Italy), Luleå (Sweden), Cluj-Napoca (Romania), Vila Franca de Xira (Portugal), and Cartesius–Utrecht (the Netherlands), covering urban, peri-urban and rural contexts and assessing their contribution to sustainability, biodiversity, climate resilience and wellbeing.
Our Immersive and Spatial Systems team will play a key role in the project, leading the development of the Co-creation and Community Engagement Platform. The platform aims to provide an immersive Extended Reality co-creation environment, enabling users to visualise and interact with neighbourhood design scenarios in real time. It will combine outputs from the Regenerative Design Tool with an accessible XR interface, helping translate complex digital scenarios into experiences that can be more easily understood and explored by a wide range of users.
A key aspect of the platform is its focus on accessibility and inclusion. While immersive technologies such as AR and VR will provide new ways of experiencing and interacting with design scenarios, the platform will also explore access through commonly available devices, including smartphones. This approach aims to make participation possible for diverse groups of users, beyond those with access to specialised equipment.
Through an intuitive and inclusive design, the platform will support stakeholders in understanding, exploring and contributing to the assessment of different regenerative design solutions. Residents, communities, practitioners and other stakeholders will be able to engage with design scenarios and provide meaningful input throughout the co-creation process.
During the official kick off meeting, Vasilis Frantzis, Project Manager at I-SENSE Group, presented our team’s aspirations and plans for the Co-creation and Community Engagement Platform and the main objectives and focus of WP5.
Through its combination of digital tools, immersive technologies, interdisciplinary methods and community engagement, RENEW-Futures seeks to establish practical pathways towards regenerative neighborhood development.
The project will support capacity building, open tools and APIs, and policy-oriented outputs to facilitate the uptake and replication of its results by cities, communities and industry. The tools developed through the project are intended to remain available beyond its lifetime, creating a lasting resource for future regenerative design initiatives.
The I-SENSE Group looks forward to collaborating with the RENEW-Futures consortium and contributing its expertise in XR technologies, digital environments and human-centred interaction to help shape more sustainable, inclusive and beautiful neighborhoods across Europe.
Stay tuned to learn more about the project!
