Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Innovative and diverse solutions which make a difference in tackling urban challenges. This is the goal of the winning projects of the third edition of the call “The Proactive City. Innovation with Impact”, launched by BIT Hàbitat. The winning initiatives will share half a million euros, which will be used to fund up to 80% of each one.

The five winning projects have budgets of between 50,000 and 150,000 euros and offer solutions to tackle the challenges of the energy transition, the climate emergency, urban transformation, housing and social cohesion.  The trend from the two previous editions continues, with projects by consortiums of various organisations, with a cross-cutting and multi-disciplinary perspective.

The projects are:

• LOGIREPAK (subsidy of 120,000 euros and presented by the Fundació Catalana per a la Prevenció de Residus i Consum Responsable (Rezero) and Design By Intuition (Paka). Networked urban logistics for the reuse of fresh food packaging at city markets, addressing aspects such as the cleaning of packaging, access to citizens and adoption by commerce.
• RAVALoritza (subsidy of nearly 40,000 euros and presented by Transfolab Bcn and Raons públiques). Participatory design and joint creation of furniture for space at the Casal d’infants del Raval as an educational strategy and form of upcycling.
• TEPAC (subsidy of 120,000 euros and presented by the organisations Batec Pol Cooperatiu per la Transició Energètica, Azimut 360 and La Fabric@). Freeing up uses of communal terraces for the construction of energy communities. For testing, a pilot project is planned in a block of flats with official protection in the neighbourhood of Bon Pastor.
• DaTALoG (subsidy of around 115,000 euros and presented by Universitat Pompeu Fabra and Ideas for Change). Data trust which will allow for the participatory use of data on the consumption of water, electricity and gas to take better decisions on access, savings and the impact of energy consumption.
• R.E.S.P.I.R.A. (subsidy of around 100,000 euros and presented by the group made up of Noumena Design Research Education, Institut d‘Arquitectura Avançada de Catalunya, Associació de Veïns i Veïnes del Poblenou and Plataforma d’entitats de Roquetes). The project aims to get local residents involved in the joint creation of urban elements, through a combination of 3D printing and milling, to help with decarbonisation and improve air quality.

Besides financial support, BIT Habitat  will give each project technical assistance, mentoring from experts and help with access to technology to be able to develop prototypes. The agency will also help the initiatives with support for communication and dissemination.

A total of 17 initiatives developed in the context of  “The Proactive City” are currently under way in the city and will be joined by this year’s five winners. That makes 22 innovation projects since 2020 thanks to this subsidy call.