events
Throughout the project, conferences and public events became essential platforms for building the CiD Ecosystem. Rather than serving as isolated occasions for presenting results, they created opportunities to connect disciplines, test emerging ideas, exchange practical experiences, and strengthen collaboration between partners and external stakeholders. They enabled discussions that linked research with practice, education with industry, and local initiatives with European perspectives, contributing to the broader objective of accelerating the transition towards circular design.
conferences
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The kick-off conference of CiD presents the Innovation Alliance and discusses the focus on a radical change in all design fields and the power of design to boost bio-innovation and urban transformation towards sustainability. Speakers come from the 11 partner organisations of the Alliance, universities, research centres, further education experts, enterprises, civil society organisations, and Europe-wide networks. Invited key notes are from Diego Zoppi, architect and board member of ACE Architects‘ Council of Europe, one of the partners of the Alliance, and from Raffaella Fagnoni, product designer at IUAV University of Venice.
The kick-off conference took place at the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Palazzo Michiel, on Friday 10 November 2023 from 9 to 12 am.
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Responsive Cities is a biennial international symposium on the future of cities organized by the Advanced Architecture Group of IAAC and hosted by Disseny Hub Barcelona. The 2025 edition focuses on “Design Matter(s) for Decarbonization” and takes place within the framework of the Circular Design (CiD) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and developed by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia - IAAC- (Spain), Leibniz University Hannover LUH (Germany), University of Genoa (Italy), Tallinn Business Incubators (Estonia), Association ARCES Palermo (Italy), Ersilia Foundation (Spain), Architekturos Fondas (Lithuania), Materiom Ltd. (UK), National Research Council CNR (Italy), Architects’ Council of Europe ACE (Belgium), Association for Local Democracy ALDA (France), Associated Partner: Ellen MacArthur Foundation (Global network).
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The Circular Design in Action: Practices and Research conference - organized by Department of Architecture and Design of University of Genova - invites scholars, researchers, designers, and practitioners to share their insights and innovative approaches in circular design. This event is part of the CiD Project – Circular Design for Bio-based Innovation towards Climate- Neutral Cities, an initiative fostering sustainable solutions in architecture, product design, and urban transformation. In an era of pressing environmental challenges, design plays a fundamental role in shaping a sustainable future. The conference will explore circular economy principles, bio-based materials, and innovative design methodologies that drive the transition toward carbon- neutral cities. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase research, methodologies, and practical applications that redefine how materials, products, and built environments are designed, produced, and regenerated, within two tracks:
+ Track 1: Design for change
+ Track 2: Circular Cities
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he Conference “Circular Economy and Built Environments: From Vision to Implementation” brought together private and public sector leaders, practitioners, andinnovatorstoredefifinethefutureof our built environment. At a critical juncture in the global climate challenge, the construction sector is both a primary driver of environmental pressure and a signifificant engine for systemic innovation.
Statistics reveal the urgency of this transition: according to UN2020 nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions are linked to the construction, use, and demolition of buildings. In Tallinn alone, construction and demolition waste accounts for over 65% of all municipal waste, representing a massive loss of resources. However, this challenge offffers a unique opportunity to transform the sector into a regenerative, nature- positive system. The built environment need not frame economic growth and nature conservation as competing goals. A systemic transition to a circular economy creates conditions in which environmental and societal objectives reinforce one another.
Hosted by the Tallinn Business Incubator and rooted in the collaborative efffforts of the CiD – Circular Design Innovation Alliance, the conference bridged local strategies with a broader European perspective. The program explored the Tallinn Circular Economy Roadmap 2035 alongside successful implementation stories from Copenhagen and other pioneering cities. The evolving role of the architect was also examined — one now expected to engage across the full value chain, from bio-based material selection to community engagement.
The conference highlighted practical, „enlightened action“ through real-world projects. These included the transformation of the industrial Hundipea district into a nature-oriented seaside community and the development of carbon-sequestering my celium materials by Myceen. Additionally, modular construction systems from Creatomus Solutions were introduced as a way to treat buildings like software— confifigurable, reusable, and continuously evolving.
By connecting international experts with local innovators, the conference provided the practical strategies needed to turn circularity from a niche vision into the industry norm.
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Circular Design Symposium: What Goes Around Comes Around was an international event held in Vilnius on 19–21 March 2026and organised by Architektūros fondas. The symposium brought together professionals from architecture, urbanism, design, research, and the arts to discuss how questions of time are becoming increasingly relevant in shaping design approaches that support the transition towards a circular economy.
The event focused on the relationship between time, material transformation, maintenance, and the built environment, exploring how circular design can extend beyond technical solutions to become a broader cultural and spatial practice.
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Cities today are faced with the challenge of transformation within existing frameworks. Climate goals, resource constraints, demographic change and social inequalities require new urban development approaches that move beyond the linear models of growth, expansion, demolition and replacement. In this context, circular design is emerging as a framework for rethinking how we regenerate, adapt and sustain our urban environments. The Circular Design for Urban Transformation conference, organised by the CiD Circular Design Innovation Alliance and co-funded by the European Union, brought together researchers, educators, practitioners, policymakers and entrepreneurs to explore the role of circular approaches in shaping resilient and regenerative cities. During the three-day event in Hannover, participants took part in key lectures, discussions, parallel sessions and collaborative activities examining how circular thinking can inform urban regeneration, governance, entrepreneurship, education, and professional practice.
The conference was structured around three interconnected themes:
Circular Regeneration, which focused on the adaptive transformation of existing urban resources and spaces;Circular Constellations, which investigated new networks of actors, knowledge flows, and entrepreneurial ecosystems; and
Circular Processes, which addressed governance, participation, policy frameworks, and strategies for urban change.
Together, these themes emphasised that circularity encompasses more than just material cycles and resource efficiency. It is also a spatial, social, cultural and organisational process that creates new forms of value. A particular strength of the conference was the dialogue between research and practice. An open call for abstracts brought together diverse international perspectives, showcasing emerging research alongside experiences from pioneering projects and initiatives. The discussions highlighted the potential of circular approaches, as well as the challenges involved in translating ambitious visions into long-term transformation processes.
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To extend the impact of the conference series beyond the live events, a short documentary video was produced for each of the six CiD conferences. These videos capture the atmosphere, key moments, presentations, discussions, and highlights of each event, providing an accessible overview of the conference programme and its main outcomes.
Here you will find a series of short documentaries about our CiD conferences.
In addition to the short conference documentaries, the Venice and Vilnius conferences were professionally recorded in full. The complete recordings are available via the links below.
programme of events
A programme of events was organised alongside the CiD conferences, including workshops, training sessions, observatory meetings, exhibitions, public lectures and local events.
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European + Local Observatory Event
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European + Local Observatory Event
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Building on the experience of previous years, the creative workshop “Altering Matter” returns to the Vingis section of the Vilnius University Botanical Garden. The two-part workshop will delve deeper into the principles of circular design and sustainable architecture practices, where form follows availability. Experienced workshop tutors will guide participants in exploring the characteristics specific to our region, local craftsmanship practices, materials, and their cycles. Additionally, participants will test various stages of regenerative design methods—from bioregional mapping and local material harvesting to architectural design with these materials and their application in real case examples. // Organised by Architektūros fondas
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In an era of pressing environmental challenges, design plays a fundamental role in shaping a sustainable future. The conference will explore circular economy principles, bio-based materials, and innovative design methodologies that drive the transition toward carbon-neutral cities. Participants will have the opportunity to showcase research, methodologies, and practical applications that redefine how materials, products, and built environments are designed, produced, and regenerated, within two tracks:
+ Track 1: Design for change
+ Track 2: Circular Cities -
Responsive Cities is a biennial international symposium on the future of cities organized by the Advanced Architecture Group of IAAC and hosted by Disseny Hub Barcelona.
The 2025 edition focuses on “Design Matter(s) for Decarbonization” and takes place within the framework of the Circular Design (CiD) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union -
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As part of the Erasmus Plus Innovation Alliance Circular Design (CiD)- Circular design for bio-based innovation towards climate-neutral cities, the University of Genoa Department Architecture and Design organises a conference titled: Towards climate neutral cities: Energy TexTi(l)e. Speakers will address the increasingly important topic of the Circular Economy and textiles ecosystem in the architectural dimension.
In 2023 the European Transition pathway for the textiles ecosystem policy report envisages the need to work on several fronts-from ecodesign to carbon footprint reduction, from the adoption of scientific methods of measuring environmental impact to better integration between production systems and natural capital/biodiversity - to impact both production-distribution systems and public opinion and consumers. The conference will bring together experts, researchers, and companies from the textiles ecosystem to discuss this challenge as an awareness-raising activity, which addresses the local community in a public space conceived to support innovation, technological research and new forms of business related to the blue economy.The event is included in the European Sustainable Energy Week, as one of the featured initiatives on the occasion of Sustainable Energy Days, a series of events taking place all over the world to promote clean energy and energy efficiency, promoted by the European Commission.
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The teaching/learning formats developed within the CiD Circular Design EU Innovation Alliance are based on the skills gaps and challenges identified in the Observatories. The local Observatory in Hannover discussed a lot about these formats and provided valuable input. Thanks to:
Tatjana Sabljo (BDA Hannover) , Patrik Nilsson (BDA Niedersachsen), Annika Wagener (BDIA Bremen/Niedersachen), Sofia Hanina (city of Hannover, urban planner) , Marsha Dinse (founder arc.lab), Julia Theis (founder arc.lab), Rebekka Wandt (Architekten Kammer Niedersachsen), Franz Gerbens (Gundlach GmbH), Matthias Wohlfahrt (proKlima), Jackie Williams (architectsforfuture Hannover) , Hannah Dietze (Sprengel Freunde, Young Circle) and Celine Kulemann (archifachschaft Hannover)
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Alessandro Pernice (Senior Project Manager at ARCES) presented the CiD project at the Collaborative ecosystems for innovation towards sustainable development forum in palermo in the context of many other experts and organizations.
Speaker
P. PARMA: The state of the art on sustainable transition in Sicily according to the analysis of the Act Tank Sicilia
A. PERNICE:Circular design for BioInnovation towards climate neutral cities: 'Innovation Alliane CiD
G. GANGE: Sustainable fashion? Consumer education as a starting point for the transformation of the system
C. BIANCHI: The modular development of 'themed' collaborative ecosystems for the creation of shared and sustainable value in a 'living fabric
M. CELLURA: Afternoon session: Focus Groups
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Last week we had our third face-to-face meeting with the whole CiD Innovative Alliance in Barcelona organised by Iaac. Day 1 started with great inputs and joint workshop for our Academic and Accelerator programmes. In the evening there was the CiD Mind the Gap event with great and inspiring presentations and projects. Day 2 started with a tour of Iaac. After discussing the next events and our flow of research together, we went to the Valldaura Labs in Iaac. Here we had traditional local food and were able to get an insight into the campus and the extraordinary way of working and its philosophy. Day 3 started with great inputs and discussions on our Continuous Education Programme.
After further updates from all partners, our meetings were unfortunately already over. We look forward to seeing everyone online again soon and at the next major workshop in Genoa.
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On 21st February 2024, University of Genoa, Department Architecture and Design, has hosted a collaborative mapping and co-design activity encounter with CID Genoa Local Observatory. The event has been mapping the skills gaps and educational profiles aimed at young product and service designers in order to foster job creation on new entrepreneurial possibilities in line with principles of circular economy and bio-based innovation towards climate-neutral cities.
During the "Next Skills for Circular Design" meeting, the UniGe CID team dedicated part of the meeting to blended collaborative activities to identify gaps and skills needed to train future circular designers, by the ‘personas’ tool and other inspiring collaborative resources!
Participants include Liguria International, Confcommercio, Città Metropolitana di Genova, PLEF, ADI Liguria, Materially, Isola Design, FOA.GE Genova Chamber of Architects, AMIU, Genoa Blue District.
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Creating new synergies and knowledge in urban, architectural, service and product design informed by bio-based materials, urban transformation towards climate neutrality and circular economy. Thanks for all the energy and commitment. What a team!
On top we had a public discussion with young professionals and students in the field of architecture about skill gaps for a transformation towards sustainable cities.
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Discussion round of the research project Circular Design on the topic:
What skills are essential in architecture for a future-oriented, climate-friendly education? We ask young professionals what expectations and ideas they have of their studies and which focal points will be important as further training after graduation.Which topics need to be newly integrated into the curricula in order to get off to a good start in the professional world with the right skills or to be able to make a valuable contribution to tackling the diverse challenges of the building industry.
The Discussion takes place at the “aufhof” in Hannover, on Wednesday 13 Dezember 2023 from 4pm on.
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The kick-off conference of CiD presents the Innovation Alliance and discusses the focus on a radical change in all design fields and the power of design to boost bio-innovation and urban transformation towards sustainability. Speakers come from the 11 partner organisations of the Alliance—universities, research centres, further education experts, enterprises, civil society organisations, and Europe-wide networks. Invited key notes are from Diego Zoppi, architect and board member of ACE Architects' Council of Europe, one of the partners of the Alliance, and from Raffaella Fagnoni, product designer at IUAV University of Venice.
The kick-off conference takes place at the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Palazzo Michiel, on Friday 10 November 2023 from 9 to 12 am.
if you can’t make it to the event, you are welcome to join via youtube streaming : https://www.youtube.com/@EuropeanCulturalCentre
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We invite to the CiD public roundtable discussion in Hanover to present the Innovation Alliance in one of its three pilot cities, together with Barcelona and Genova. Together with experts from enterprises of the design and building sector, professional organisation, local government, and civil society organistations we discuss challenges for the design disciplines, from urban and architectural design to product and service design linked to climate change, social, cultural, and economic questions.
The roundtable is hosted by BDA Bund Deutscher Architekten Hannover in the "Aufhof", a temporary installation for creative and innovative initiatives in an empty department store in the city centre of Hanover, on Wednesday 25 October 2023 from 4 to 6 pm.
