Urban2020

Follow & Find out more about our project, PROWD, funded by the Driving Urban Transition program.

What does a 15-Minute City look like when density drops and distances grow? The idea works well in compact city centers, but villages, suburbs, and peri-urban areas play by different rules. Services are more spread out, mobility options are fewer, and everyday access becomes more fragile.

Re-thinking proximity beyond dense urban cores means:
- shared local hubs
- flexible and demand-responsive mobility
- modular, scalable services
- stronger local resilience

It’s not about copying the inner city. It’s about adapting proximity to place.

New year, same URBAN2020! We are back from the winter break and so is PROWD!

Busy 2026 ahead! Let's do this! 🙌

Leaving the car habit behind isn’t only driven by individual choice alone, it’s also about how our cities are built. The placement of every supermarket, school and doctor's office shapes our mobility habits.🚶‍♀️🚲🚍

PROWD explores how we can shift away from heavy car dependency and create realistic alternatives for everyday life.

Day-to-day life exists beyond the temporal aspect of routine; it requires spaces that accommodate our daily needs. These amenities exist within a tightly knit network of local functions that shape the daily experiences of residents. But what happens when density is low and spaces are too far apart? Gaps form and slowly but surely, proximity is diluted. Follow us as we explore innovative solutions to restore it in LDUAs.

Not only a pleasure to meet our partners from PROWD again, this time in our own city of Bucharest, for the second transnational meeting of the project, but also a very productive and insightful meeting, to approach the end of 2025, and plan ahead for 2026, which announces itself as a busy year for us, here at PROWD.

Thank you to our friends and partners from ADI-ZMB (Bucharest Metropolitan Area) for organising and facilitating this meeting!

The term 15-Minute City is catchy, but the idea is bigger than a number. It’s not about counting minutes with a stopwatch. It’s about ensuring that daily needs, work, school, groceries, healthcare, and culture are accessible without relying on a car, and that the journey is safe, pleasant, and inclusive for everyone. In some places, this might mean a 10-minute walk; in others, a 25-minute bike ride or public transport trip. The magic lies not in the “15” but in how well your local area supports daily life.
For low-density urban areas, the challenge is even greater: distance is often a given, but poor connections make it worse. That’s why PROWD focuses on proximity without density, rethinking local services, strengthening public and active transport, and creating micro-hubs where people can work, shop, and socialise closer to home. Because the real question isn’t “how many minutes?”, it’s “how easy and fair is everyday life for all residents?”

As proud partners of this journey, we at URBAN2020 are excited to see the impact this project has created and to celebrate the next generation of changemakers.

The 15-Minute City is considered a good practice in sustainable mobility because it rethinks the structure of cities around accessibility rather than speed or distance. Instead of long commutes and car-centric design, it promotes proximity: ensuring that residents can reach essential services: work, education, health, culture, shopping - within 15 minutes by foot or bike.

This radically reduces the need for private vehicles, lowers emissions, and reclaims public space for people, not traffic. It encourages active mobility, shortens travel distances, and supports the integration of multimodal, shared, and low-carbon transport systems.

In PROWD, we explore how this model can be adapted to low-density urban areas, not by replicating dense city cores, but by fostering local accessibility, linking services through mobility hubs, and enabling more equitable, sustainable transport choices even in suburban or peri-urban settings.

We are proud to share that URBAN 2020 was in Turin, where our colleague Adelin Lazărpresented our latest research at the Congresso Geografico. The article, co-authored with Miruna Draghia was titled: “Reclaiming Urban Futures: Soil-Centered Planning in Baia Mare amid Environmental and Socioeconomic Crises.”

The presentation explored the Baia Mare pilot within the SPADES (Spatial Planning and Design with Soils) project, showcasing how soil-inclusive planning can transform post-mining landscapes into regenerative urban spaces. By combining soil diagnostics, stakeholder engagement, and planning strategies, the study highlights ways to integrate Natura 2000 biodiversity assets, sustainable tourism, and no net land take objectives into local urban planning.

Baia Mare’s experience demonstrates how soils can be active drivers of sustainable, resilient, and multifunctional urban development, offering a replicable model for European cities facing similar environmental and socioeconomic challenges.

We are honoured to contribute to this European dialogue and continue our commitment to advancing innovative, sustainable, and inclusive urban planning solutions.

At the recent Congresso Geografico Italiano, our team presented the PROWD project (Proximity Without Density) — exploring how the 15-Minute City model can be re-imagined for low-density urban areas.

The presentation highlighted PROWD’s methodology and non-conventional solutions, with a focus on social proximity, car-dependency reduction, and tackling urban sprawl at the metropolitan and urban-rural interface.

We thank our consortium partners and the congress organizers for the opportunity to share PROWD’s vision of creating inclusive, accessible, and sustainable suburban futures across Europe.

🔗 Follow PROWD to stay updated on how we are bringing these ideas to life!

We will be there! ✌️

📢 Save the Date! 🌍✨

We’re excited to announce the EUthMappers Final Conference:

"Mapping and Geospatial Tools for Sustainability and Humanitarian Cooperation"

📅 25th September 2025 | 10:00–13:00 CET

📍 Aula Magna, Politecnico di Milano | Via Leonardo da Vinci, Milan – Italy

This landmark event will bring together educators, researchers, policymakers, and international organizations to explore how geospatial data is shaping education, sustainability, and global cooperation.

🌱 Why join?

✔️ Discover innovative uses of mapping in schools and communities

✔️ Connect with experts driving change through geospatial tools

✔️ Learn how collaborative mapping supports sustainability & humanitarian action

🔗 Scan the QR code to register or visit 👉 www.euthmappers.com

Let’s celebrate knowledge, cooperation, and the next generation of changemakers! 💡🗺️

From Flood Alerts to Forward Planning: How Soil Science Is Shaping Our Cities

Romania's recent flood alerts are a powerful reminder that climate resilience starts with the soil beneath our feet. While some areas were impacted, cities like Baia Mare—a pilot site for the EU-funded SPADES4Soils project—are demonstrating the importance of proactive, soil-informed urban planning.

At URBAN 2020, we're proud to be a part of this initiative.

Our work in Baia Mare uses geospatial analysis to map and understand how land is used. By analyzing the density of land fragmentation, we can pinpoint areas that are most vulnerable to hydrological risks. This data-driven approach allows us to:

Identify where water infiltration is low and surface runoff is high.

Guide smarter land-use decisions that prioritize nature-based solutions.

Strengthen urban ecosystems to better absorb water and mitigate flood risks.

This isn't just about responding to crises; it's about building more sustainable, resilient, and livable cities for the future. By integrating soil health into urban policies, we're working to ensure our communities are prepared for the challenges ahead.

Learn more about the SPADES4Soils project and our mission to create a better urban future!

Soil and Hydrology in Romania Recently, Romania has been facing one of its most critical hydrological alerts. The National Institute of Hydrology and Water Management issued Code Red flood warnings for 12 counties, highlighting the imminent danger of flash floods, significant slope runoff, and overflowing rivers. These extreme e...

Sprawl and low density. What's the relation between them?

Low-Density Urban Areas are often confused with urban sprawl, but the two aren’t synonymous. LDUAs refer to urbanised areas with low population and building density, found in peri-urban belts, village-like districts, or residential suburbs. These areas may be planned, connected, and locally vibrant, or, in other cases, fragmented and underserved.

Urban sprawl, by contrast, is a development process marked by dispersed, uncoordinated growth, car dependency, and inefficient land use. While sprawl often results in low-density forms, not all low-density settlements are sprawling. Likewise, not all sprawl is low-density, some high-density developments can still be sprawling if they’re unplanned, fragmented, or disconnected.

In PROWD, we focus on LDUAs regardless of how they emerged - sprawl or not. The goal is to rethink mobility, services, and proximity in these places, shifting from car-dependent peripheries to more connected, accessible, and liveable neighbourhoods.