On October 1–2, 2025, the Institute for Research on Innovation and Services for Development (CNR IRISS) will host the International Symposium “Design of Transformative Urban Systems – Environment and Climate, New and Circular Economy, Sustainable Land Use and Ecosystems, Digitalization and AI, Turbulence and Resilience, and Wellbeing and Health”.

The initiative, organized by Professor Luigi Fusco Girard, Emeritus Professor of Evaluation at the Department of Architecture of the University of Naples Federico II and Associate at CNR IRISS, seeks to provide a notable scientific contribution to the upcoming COP30 conference (Belém, 2025), by integrating the internationally recognized Italian expertise in sustainable urban planning with global sustainability and climate change challenges.

Specifically, the meeting in Naples will emphasize the human and cultural dimensions of climate action at the local level, underlining that climate change is not only a distant global challenge but is deeply rooted in the everyday life of citizens, socio-economic and behavioral patterns, local cultural identities, and land-use and building practices.

Reconnecting climate and environmental science with the daily experience and traditions of people – especially the younger generation – is essential to fostering collective awareness and systemic approaches to sustainable quality of life, as also advocated in the UN SDGs.

The Naples symposium will bring fresh perspectives from renowned international experts. The program will include contributions from Peter Nijkamp, Vice-President of the Regional Science Academy (TRSA), and Karima Kourtit, Executive Director of the Regional Science Academy (TRSA). The inaugural session, chaired by Paolo Landri, Director of CNR IRISS, will feature a keynote lecture by Professor Carlos Moreno, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, on “The 15-Minute City as a Framework for Climate-Resilient Urban Living”.

The final programme of the International Symposium will be announced shortly.