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Sustainability is a shared goal across many research and innovation projects. Yet organisations, cities and stakeholders often use different definitions, priorities and indicators when discussing sustainable development. This can make collaboration, comparison and knowledge transfer challenging, particularly in large international projects involving multiple disciplines and local contexts. The PROBONO project brings together partners from across Europe with the common ambiti

Standardisation is often perceived as the final step after innovation. In reality, it is a powerful mechanism for ensuring that research results can be adopted, replicated and scaled beyond the lifetime of individual projects. For PROBONO, standardisation is therefore not an end point, but an integral part of creating lasting impact for sustainable and climate-neutral communities. Connecting Research and Standardisation One of the most effective ways for research projects t

In February 2026, the Porto Living Lab took part in the PROBONO Review Meeting at Sonae Campus, in Portugal. The meeting was part of the project’s formal review process and focused on presenting implementation progress, reviewing deviations, discussing risks and contingency measures, and aligning the next steps with the Project Officer and the PROBONO coordination team. Held at the Belmiro de Azevedo Learning Centre, the meeting brought together representatives from the PROBO

PROBONO, a Horizon 2020 project dedicated to demonstrating sustainable and people-centred building renovation through a network of Living Labs across Europe, has generated valuable lessons not only about innovation itself, but also about what it takes to deliver it. When a research project sets out to renovate a building, retrofit a neighbourhood, or build something genuinely new in the physical world, the hard part is rarely the idea. The idea is usually brilliant, which is

PROBONO developed a card-based workshop tool, the Placemaking Maptivity, to translate the ISO 37101 sustainability framework into a practical, collaborative planning experience for cities. Developed across four European countries with support from three EU-funded projects, it has now been prepared in a peer-reviewed submission. The team, from industry and academia, across four European countries has developed a new methodology to help cities turn sustainability goals into coo

Numerical tools developed by ITA within PROBONO project to improve thermal comfort and energy performance of buildings were presented at IC2: Innovation Industry Construction Congress celebrated 1-5 June. The current shift toward green building development requires the accurate design of HVAC systems and building envelope solutions, with digitalization serving as a key enabling technology in this transition. HVAC4People is a set of tools based on open-source solutions which a

Around schools, streets are more than transport corridors. They are arrival points, crossing spaces, waiting areas, social spaces, and daily zones of interaction between children, parents, pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and private vehicles. Even small changes in street layout or traffic rules can influence how people move, where vehicles slow down, and how safe the environment feels. But testing such changes directly in the real world is not always easy. Redesigning a street,

The PROBONO project recently brought together stakeholders from across Europe in a public webinar highlighting innovative solutions supporting the transition toward sustainable, people-centred neighbourhoods. The session attracted 76 participants, including researchers, policymakers, industry professionals, and urban practitioners, reflecting strong interest in practical approaches to advancing Green Building Neighbourhoods (GBNs). Bridging Technology and Society in the Built