ATELIER is a European Union-funded smart city project that set out to develop citizen-driven Positive Energy Districts in Amsterdam and Bilbao. Launched on 1 November 2019, the project is coordinated by the City of Amsterdam and brings together 30 partners from 11 countries. Its core aim is practical rather than abstract: to test how urban districts can produce more energy than they consume on an annual basis, while also making the transition locally anchored and socially accepted.
The project works through two “Lighthouse Cities” — Amsterdam in the Netherlands and Bilbao in Spain — where solutions are demonstrated in real neighbourhood conditions. Those measures are then meant to be replicated in six “Fellow Cities”: Bratislava, Budapest, Copenhagen, Krakow, Matosinhos and Riga. This demonstration-to-replication model is central to ATELIER’s methodology and places the project within the wider Scalable Cities network of Horizon 2020 lighthouse projects.
ATELIER’s work is organised around urban laboratories, local innovation structures and stakeholder engagement. Deliverables indicate that the project has focused on creating self-sustaining “PED Innovation Ateliers” so that cooperation among municipalities, researchers, businesses and citizens can continue beyond the EU funding period. Another work stream has concentrated on participation and energy citizenship, reflecting the project’s view that district-level energy transition depends not only on technology, but also on local engagement and governance.
So far, ATELIER has produced frameworks for implementation and engagement, while continuing to document outcomes through reports, stories and videos. Its main contribution lies in translating the idea of Positive Energy Districts into a practical urban process that can be adapted across different European cities.