Author: Nayla Saniour (UPM), updated by Charlotte Burnod (LGI Sustainable Innovation)
How can the City Studio program foster collaboration between cities and universities to address climate neutrality challenges through student-led innovation?
Madrid City Studio is a scientific collaboration program that unites cities and universities to co-create solutions for sustainable urban transformation. Launched in Madrid at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, the program involves university students working on their final theses (master's or bachelor's degrees) to develop applied research projects addressing real-world urban challenges. Each project is jointly mentored by a university lecturer and a civil servant, ensuring the research directly aligns with the city’s needs. Students receive scholarships funded by the university, municipality, or joint sources to support their work.
Challenges addressed
The City Studio program addresses a range of critical urban and sustainability challenges, including:
- Urban governance: Supporting policy development and creating multi-agent alliances to streamline collaboration between academia and city governments.
- Climate neutrality: Tackling issues like energy systems, mobility, the built environment, and green industries, aligning with the Roadmap towards Climate Neutrality for Madrid 2030-2050.
- Stakeholder engagement: Encouraging peer-to-peer learning, community capacity building, and knowledge exchange across sectors.
- Circular economy & nature-based solutions: Addressing practical sustainability concerns, such as waste management and urban greening.
The City Studio program aims to develop impactful research to address city challenges through the following activities:
- Research for carbon reduction: Each edition focuses on critical topics linked to reducing carbon emissions, identified by the city council, such as electric mobility, energy efficiency in housing, and circular waste management.
- Prototype design and implementation: Students create feasibility analyses, impact studies, indicators, and prototypes to inform city policy and contribute to Madrid's climate action.
- Collaborative learning: Students receive dual mentorship from a university professor and a civil servant, ensuring their work aligns with municipal goals and real-world city needs.
Roadmap to Climate Neutrality: Madrid 2030-2050
The City Studio projects directly align with Madrid’s Roadmap towards Climate Neutrality for 2030-2050. The roadmap outlines key priorities for the city, including reducing emissions in transportation, improving energy efficiency in housing, and increasing the city's green infrastructure. The students’ work supports these goals by providing research and prototypes that can be integrated into municipal projects. For example, projects from the first edition in Madrid have focused on:
- Electric mobility and charging infrastructure: Research on how to expand and improve electric vehicle (EV) charging points across the city.
- Urban forest: Proposals to increase green spaces and enhance Madrid’s urban forest as a natural carbon sink.
- Energy efficiency in housing: Solutions for improving the energy performance of residential buildings, which are critical to reducing the city’s overall energy consumption.
- Circular waste management: Strategies to improve waste management in municipal markets, reducing landfill waste and promoting recycling.
Context & public policy of reference
The City Studio Program is rooted in Madrid’s commitment to the EU's Mission on 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. Cities such as Madrid and Vitoria have been included in the 100 Cities cohort (2021-2027). The program contributes to policy and research initiatives laid out in this EU mission, ensuring the program’s relevance and alignment with broader sustainability targets.
Innovative approaches
The City Studio Program incorporates several innovative approaches:
- Challenge identification & conceptualization: The co-creation model ensures a match between city needs and university capabilities. The themes are identified collaboratively, leading to interdisciplinary research that addresses urban challenges holistically.
- Co-creation & prototyping: The students’ research is organized around thematic areas like energy, mobility, or green infrastructure. This collaborative process produces applied results, such as service or product prototypes, which are then presented to the city for potential integration.
- Management & facilitation: A dedicated facilitation team ensures the coordination between city stakeholders and university participants, allowing the research to progress in tandem with city priorities.
Operational details and scalability
The City Studio’s action portfolio follows a portfolio approach where teams work on interconnected issues to support Madrid’s climate neutrality. The phases of the program—preparation, co-creation, and results—are designed for easy replication. Other cities, such as Vitoria and Valencia, are actively exploring how to replicate Madrid’s model. Several factors enhance the program's scalability:
- National Platform for Climate Neutral Cities (CitiES2030): Madrid shares its learnings and program structure with other cities through CitiES2030, fostering a knowledge transfer network.
- Phased approach: The modular structure of the City Studio allows for customization depending on each city’s specific climate and urban challenges, making it adaptable for other cities in Spain and beyond.
Key resources for replication
- Human labor: Engagement of university lecturers, students, and civil servants.
- Financial resources: University scholarships, municipal funding, or shared financing models to support the student work.
- Technology & data: Software for research, and access to urban data for prototyping and impact analysis.
The program’s potential for replication is enhanced by its clear, modular structure, and its success in Madrid has already drawn interest from other Spanish cities, notably Vitoria and Valencia. The chosen topics align with each city’s specific climate action strategy, ensuring that the research is both useful and actionable.
Key enablers
- Political support: The commitment from university leadership and city councils is crucial. In Madrid, the City Council plays a pivotal role in selecting the priority topics.
- Economic incentives: University scholarships provide financial stability for students, ensuring their participation.
- Social innovation: The interdisciplinary nature of the program fosters collaboration across sectors, creating new networks of innovation.
Key inhibiting factors
- Political instability: Changes in government or university administration can disrupt the program’s continuity.
- Economic constraints: The absence of direct financial incentives for students may impact future participation, although the program has been sustained due to the requirement of final theses in Spain.
- Social limitations: The first edition in Madrid was developed during the COVID-19 pandemic, limiting physical interactions and collaborative work.
Key Lessons
- Positive outcomes: Students benefit from working on real-world challenges, civil servants gain fresh ideas for policy implementation, and university faculty can test research in practical settings.
- Challenges: Sustaining the project over multiple editions can be difficult due to funding constraints or shifting political priorities. Continuity in research lines also requires long-term commitment from both academic and city partners.
Conclusion
The City Studio program offers a robust model for integrating academic research with municipal climate action. By aligning student-led research with city priorities, the program supports climate neutrality efforts while fostering interdisciplinary knowledge creation. Its adaptability and success in Madrid offer valuable lessons for other cities seeking to replicate the model.
Images from Unsplash: Madrid (Alex Vasey), Madrid at night (Carlos Zurita), Plaza Mayor (Victor)