Metropolitan Inclusivity in Climate And Digital Transitions

Project Information

MICAD

Grant agreement ID: 101178684

DOI

10.3030/101178684

EC signature date 1 October 2024

Start date 1 March 2025

End date 29 February 2028

Funded under

• Culture, creativity and inclusive society

Total cost

€ 2 779 188,75

EU contribution

€ 2 779 188,75

Coordinated by

ASSOCIATION MONDIALE DES GRANDES METROPOLES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - MICAD (Metropolitan Inclusivity in Climate And Digital Transitions)

Reporting period: 2025-03-01 to 2026-05-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Europe is undergoing two major changes that affect everyone’s lives: the green transition, aimed at protecting the planet and achieving climate neutrality, and the digital transition, transforming how we live, work and connect. These shifts bring opportunities for cleaner transport, smarter cities and better services, but also risks of new inequalities if people are left behind. The MICAD project (Metropolitan Inclusivity in Climate and Digital Transitions) supports metropolitan areas in managing these transformations in an inclusive, fair and coordinated way. It helps local governments design transition strategies that involve citizens, authorities, researchers and businesses, ensuring the benefits of innovation are widely shared.
MICAD’s main goal is to develop and test a practical framework and toolkit that help metropolitan areas plan inclusive climate and digital transitions. The project provides tools, methods and examples to support decisions that are efficient, sustainable and participatory.
Five European metropolitan areas will co-create Metropolitan Roadmaps and each roadmap will focus on key challenges related to the green or digital transition. The results from these processes will then be shared widely, allowing other metropolitan areas to learn from MICAD’s experiences and adapt these approaches to fit their own contexts.
The consortium brings together research institutions, metropolitan authorities, networks and organisations with expertise in co-creation, participation, social innovation and policy design. By combining these skills, MICAD bridges research and practice to deliver solutions that are useful and applicable to public administrations.
The project will deliver impact through four main actions:
1. Co-design and testing: developing a toolkit informed by academic and institutional insights, validated through five metropolitan roadmaps.
2. Capacity building: training local authorities in Living Lab methodologies to foster inclusive, cross-sector approaches.
3. Policy translation: turning lessons from the roadmaps into clear recommendations for European, national and local policymakers.
4. Knowledge sharing: creating a network of practitioners to exchange experiences and promote uptake of the MICAD approach.
By February 2028, MICAD will have supported five metropolitan areas in designing inclusive transition roadmaps and trained professionals in participatory planning. Its open-access toolkit and guidance materials will remain available to all interested cities and regions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Since its start in March 2025, MICAD has progressed from its initial research and project-development phase towards the practical application of its methods in the five participating metropolitan areas.
During the first reporting period, the project examined how governance structures, institutional capacities and existing climate and digital policies influence metropolitan transitions. The research identified recurring challenges, including fragmented responsibilities, difficulties in coordinating different levels of government, limited stakeholder participation and the need to adapt transition strategies to different territorial and institutional realities.
The European analysis was complemented by exchanges with eight Latin American and nine African cities. These exchanges brought additional perspectives on metropolitan governance and enabled the project to identify practical experiences and solution models from a wide variety of contexts.
The findings were translated into the first MICAD Toolkit Prototype, completed in March 2026. The Toolkit brings together guidance, practical tools, templates and examples that metropolitan authorities can use according to their particular transition priorities and levels of institutional maturity. It has been designed as a flexible resource rather than as a single standardised model.
MICAD also developed two Methodological Frameworks: one for climate transition roadmaps and one for digital transition roadmaps. These frameworks provide a common process for developing the five Metropolitan Roadmaps while allowing each participating authority to adapt the approach to its own context.
The Methodological Frameworks were developed and validated through six Operational Hub sessions. These sessions enabled the metropolitan authorities to exchange experiences, review the proposed methodology, identify relevant stakeholders and discuss how the Toolkit could be applied in practice.
By the end of the reporting period, all five Metropolitan Roadmap processes had been launched. The participating authorities had begun defining their transition priorities, reviewing their territorial contexts and identifying the actors that should be involved. Broader stakeholder participation, co-creation and substantive roadmap development will continue during the next phase.
A common Capacity Building Strategy was also established to support the metropolitan authorities throughout the process. In parallel, MICAD created its monitoring, evaluation and learning system and began building an international audience through its website, newsletters, online community and participation in external events and knowledge-exchange activities.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

MICAD goes beyond approaches that address climate planning, digital innovation or citizen participation separately. Its main contribution is to bring these dimensions together within an integrated approach that places inclusivity and metropolitan governance at the centre of the climate and digital transitions.
The project recognises that these transitions cannot be managed only through technological or sectoral solutions. Their success also depends on how public institutions coordinate their responsibilities, involve stakeholders, develop internal capacities and respond to the social and territorial consequences of change.
The Toolkit Prototype and the two Methodological Frameworks translate this approach into practical resources for metropolitan authorities. They combine research evidence with the operational knowledge of public administrations and experiences from European, African and Latin American cities.
Rather than proposing a fixed model, MICAD develops resources that can be adapted to different governance arrangements, policy priorities and levels of institutional capacity. This balance between a common methodology and territorial flexibility is central to the project’s potential transferability.
The application of these resources through the five Metropolitan Roadmaps will provide evidence on their usability and relevance in different contexts. The results of this process will be used to refine the final Toolkit and identify lessons that may be useful to metropolitan authorities beyond the project consortium.
Ultimately, MICAD aims to provide scalable and adaptable approaches for governing climate and digital transitions in a fair, coordinated and sustainable way, contributing to wider European priorities related to climate neutrality, digital transformation and social inclusion.