Area of investment and support

Driving Urban Transitions Partnership

The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Horizon Europe Partnership aims to create more inclusive, safe, resilient, climate-neutral and sustainable cities across Europe. The partnership currently has over 70 partners from 32 countries.

• Duration: 10 years, from 2022 to 2032
• Partners involved: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Innovate UK, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and European Commission

The scope and what we're doing

The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) Partnership is framed around three transition pathways, acting as interconnected sub-programmes.

Circular Urban Economies (CUE) Transition Pathway

The CUE Transition Pathway aims to support the planning and design of inclusive urban spaces. It aims to ensure resources like water, energy and materials are used more efficiently and sustainably by keeping them in circulation for as long as possible.

This helps reduce waste and environmental impact, promoting a healthier and more sustainable urban environment.

15-minute City (15mC) Transition Pathway

The 15mC Transition Pathway encourages a transition in urban mobility by improving accessibility and connectivity for sustainable forms of transportation and logistics, starting from the neighbourhood level.

Positive Energy Districts (PED) Transition Pathway

The PED Transition Pathway aims to help cities shift towards more sustainable energy systems by:

• creating neighbourhoods that generate more energy than they consume
• making urban areas greener and more self-sufficient in terms of energy

Read more about DUT’s transition pathways.

Why we're doing it

City administrations tell us that integrated planning is crucial for sustainable urban development. This implies a need to connect different areas of knowledge and practice, and address conflicts between different strategies, policies and interests.

To achieve this we need a transformative research and innovation programme with tailored instruments to address the most pressing issues.

DUT launches annual funding opportunities for transformative research and innovation projects that support different perspectives, approaches and processes. UKRI may not join all annual funding opportunities, but we will update this page to indicate our involvement in upcoming funding opportunities.

DUT projects are required to encourage collaboration across sectors and between different types of actors (such as researchers, policymakers, businesses, and non-profits) involved in urban transitions.

Through this urban innovation ecosystem, the DUT Partnership provides opportunities for research, policy, business and society to interact, collaborate and build capacities to meet the needs of urban actors and society.

The DUT Partnership supports the involvement of urban actors in research projects they have participated in designing, to tackle challenges identified by urban stakeholders and problem owners. Offering urban actors a role in all phases of innovation projects is also a way of empowering them.

The partnership aims to ensure that good practices and evidence is made accessible for urban actors across Europe, and supports dissemination and uptake of solutions.

This contributes to a strong European Research Area and benefits city authorities and municipalities of cities of different sizes and situations. The DUT Partnership is the European hub for international cooperation on sustainable urbanisation.

Past projects, outcomes and impact

In 2022, the programme funded the UK participants in five transnational grants within the 15-minute city (15mC) transition pathway.

Funders for the 2022 programme were:

• UKRI
• AHRC
• EPSRC
• ESRC
• Innovate UK

Projects include:

• communing accessibility in urban outskirts and beyond (COMMON_ACCESS)
• envisioning neighbourhoods and co-creating thriving communities in the 15-minute city (ENACT 15mC)
• enhancing sustainable travel in small cities and outer metropolitan areas (ENHANCE)
• combined passenger and goods transportation in suburb traffic (ERGODIC)
• specifying practices enabled by cycling in 15-minute cities (SPECIFIC)

In 2024, the programme funded 11 transnational grants under the 15-minute city pathway.

Funders for 2024 programme were:

• UKRI
• AHRC
• EPSRC
• ESRC
• European Commission

Projects include:

• pedestrian-friendly urban spaces through adaptive micromobility regulation (MicroMReg)
• urban mobility transitions through coalitions: leveraging and upscaling active citizenship in multi-level governance (CO/ALIGN)
• youth-centric mobility and activity in the 15-minute city (YOUTHMOVE15)
• a systemic approach to shared mobility, accessibility and proximity for the 15 minute city (SASMAP-15MC)
• caring and youth-centric mobilities for inclusive urban proximity (CAMINUP)
• school-driven transformation for resilient, engaged and equitable youth-centric 15-minute neighbourhoods (STREET-15)
• activating children’s and youth’s active travel in 15-minute cities (ACTIVATE)
• inclusive mobility interventions for young adolescents and liveable urban spaces (i-MOBYL)
• experimental storying for intergenerational and intersectional equity in the 15-minute city (ESSIE)
• youth and logistics integration in the 15-minute city (INCLUCity+)
• transition pathways for urban provisioning systems toward 15-minutes cities (T-PATH-UP15)

Who to contact

Ask a question about this area of investment

Email: dutpartnership@esrc.ukri.org

We aim to respond within five working days.

Last updated: 30 January 2026