NEEDS Repowered – Navigating turbulent waters: RePowering cities in times of crisis

  • Project team:

    Laborgne, Pia (Project leader); Volker Stelzer

  • Funding:

    EU (Driving Urban Transition Partnership), Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

  • Start date:

    2025

  • End date:

    2028

  • Project partners:

    AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH (Coordination) as well as partners from science and practice in Austria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and Germany (Climate and Energy Agency Karlsruhe KEK, Karlshochschule)

  • Research group:

    Karlsruhe Transformation Center for Sustainability and Cultural Change

Project description

The NEEDS Repowered project is part of the co-funded European partnership Driving Urban Transition (DUT) and connects local pilot sites at the European level in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Sweden.

By integrating technological solutions for building modernization and renovation, behavioral and equity aspects, and sustainable business and financing models, the project addresses energy efficiency challenges at the interface between social and technological innovation, regulatory frameworks, and legal requirements.

A central focus of NEEDS Repowered is on building a community of practice among the European pilot sites in order to learn from each other and identify barriers and enablers for energy efficiency. The findings are incorporated into local knowledge arenas and support capacity building and local participation processes. In addition, the project contributes to the DUT Knowledge Hub and develops policy recommendations to combat energy poverty and promote energy justice, while also exploring strategies for scaling up and replication in different geographical, social, and economic contexts.

The pilot area in Karlsruhe supports the city’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2040. One focus is on accompanying and supporting the energy district initiative of the Climate and Energy Agency (KEK), which helps residents and homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their buildings.

With initiatives such as practical seminars at Karlshochschule and the mobile participation laboratory “MobiLab” at KIT, Karlsruhe is also embedding energy transition topics in education and science communication.

Project website: https://needs-repowered.at

Publications


2026
Journal Articles
Schönhut, J.; Stefan, J.; Stelzer, V.; Kainz, J.
Die Zukunft genau im Blick
2026. hi!tech, (3/2026), 10–17 
Conference Papers
Laborgne, P.; Albiez, M.; Szaguhn, M.
The Traveling Urban Sustainability Researcher: Addressing a Conflictual Topic
2026. Book of Abstracts from the Urban Europe Research Alliance (UERA) Conference 2025. Aalborg University Open Publishing. Hrsg.: E. Lissandrello, C. Cosmi, 26, Aalborg University Open Publishing Full textFull text of the publication as PDF document 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.
Community-Driven Innovation for Inclusive Urban Energy Transitions
2026. Borsari, Alice; Vettorato, Daniele; Bisello, Adriano; Pace, Rocco; Zandonella Callegher, Claudio; Giacovelli, Grazia; Voltolini, Federico; Giussani, Fabio; Bottino Leone, Dario; Grazieschi, Gianluca; Libardoni, Giovanni; Muccio, Eugenio; Siclari, Isabella; Biancifiori, Sara (Hg.): SSPCR 2025 - Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions Conference, 86–87, Eurac Research 
Presentations
Eberhardt, W.; Stelzer, V.; Köhler, J.; Laborgne, P.; Stockmeier, M. R.
Initiative Balkonkraftwerk – Region Karlsruhe
2026. Treffen der Balkonsolar-Initiative Karlsruhe (2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, April 17, 2026 
Köhler, J.; Stelzer, V.; Eberhardt, W.
Initiative Balkonkraftwerk – Solarmodulrecyclingprojekte 2020-2025
2026, April 17. Regionaltreffen Scientist for Future Karlsruhe (2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, April 17, 2026 
König, A.; Stelzer, V.
Nachhaltigkeitsbeurteilung mit IKoNE kommunal
2026. Das Integrative Konzept nachhaltiger Entwicklung und sein Potenzial für die Nachhaltigkeitsbildung (IKoNE 2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, July 7, 2026 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.
Sonnenenergie recyceln: Wie aus alten PV-Modulen neue Bakonkraftwerke werden
2026. Klimaakademie (2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, July 25, 2026 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.
Gemeinsam aktiv für die Energiewende: Balkon PV
2026, July 25. corner@DAS FEST - Klima-Akademie: Klimapodium (2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, July 25, 2026 
Seebacher, A.
Nachhaltigkeitsforschung im Reallabor: „Quartier Zukunft – Labor Stadt“
2026. Seminar "Sozialwissenschaftliche Methoden der Technikfolgenabschätzung" (2026), Karlsruhe, Germany, February 12, 2026 
Stelzer, V.; Albiez, M.; Trenks, H.; Loborgne, P.
Energy Justice und Selbstwirksamkeit durch Eigenstromproduktion von finanziell benachteiligten Menschen
2026. 26. GeographyConnectConvention (GCC 2026), Osnabrück, Germany, September 30–October 2, 2026 
Other
Seebacher, A.; Albiez, M.; Parodi, O.; Quint, A.; Zimmer-Merkle, S.; Walter, I.
Jak umożliwić zrównoważony rozwój – (Ein Leporello)
2026. (P. Dobroc, Trans.) Full textFull text of the publication as PDF document 
2025
Journal Articles
Presentations
Laborgne, P.
Urban Research for Just Cities: Pathways towards Sustainable Transformations and Transitions
2025, December 10. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions (SSPCR 2025), Bolzano, Italy, December 9–12, 2025 
Laborgne, P.
Gemeinsam transformieren: Teilhabe in Nachhaltigkeitstransformationen
2025, November 15. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Alumni Salon "Soziale Sicherung und Teilhabe" (2025), Berlin, Germany, November 15, 2025 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.
Promoting Local Inclusive Energy Transitions Through Innovation Communities
2025, September 25. ESA RN12 "Environment and Society" mid-term and Energy and Society Network 7th joint conference (2025), Kaunas, Lithuania, September 24–25, 2025 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.; Diekmannshenke, S.; Wegener, M.; Jäger, F.; Behrendt, P.
Transforming Together: Innovation Communities for Sustainable Urban Energy Futures
2025. RIFS Conference "Tough Conversations in Tough Times" (2025), Berlin, Germany, December 4–5, 2025 
Laborgne, P.; Stelzer, V.; Parodi, O.
Activating Society through Innovation Communities for Inclusive Urban Transformations
2025, October. Urban Transformation Conference 2025 (2025), Karlsruhe, Germany, October 15–17, 2025 
Parodi, O.; Laborgne, P.
Lab in Discussion : Quartier Zukunft – Labor Stadt (District Future – Urban Lab)
2025, October. Urban Transformation Conference 2025 (2025), Karlsruhe, Germany, October 15–17, 2025 
Stelzer, V.
Das Reallabor Smart East in der Oststadt Kalrsruhe
2025. NEEDS Repowered Consortium Meeting (2025), Karlsruhe, Germany, November 4, 2025 

Contact

Pia Laborgne
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS)
P.O. Box 3640
76021 Karlsruhe
Germany

Tel.: +49 721 608-24869
E-mail