Sustainable energy Positive & zero cARbon CommunitieS
Making positive-energy city solutions visible, understandable and transferable
PROGRAMME / FUNDING: Horizon 2020 Smart Cities and Communities
TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET: €23.8M · €19.7M EU contribution
DURATION: 2019–2024 · TWNTY involvement 2019–2021
THEMES: Energy transition; Positive energy districts; Storage & flexibility; e-mobility; Citizen engagement
TWNTY ROLE: WP8 Communication and Dissemination Lead (subcontracted) · knowledge sharing and capacity building (WP6)
The project
SPARCS set out to prove that city blocks and districts can become energy prosumers — producing, storing and trading clean energy rather than only consuming it. Two Lighthouse cities, Espoo and Leipzig, ran large-scale demonstrations, while five Fellow cities prepared replication: Kladno, Maia, Kifissia, Reykjavik and Lviv. Each of the seven cities also developed a City Vision 2050 to carry the transformation beyond the project.
The challenge
Positive-energy districts sit at the intersection of buildings, grids, storage, mobility, business models, governance and citizen participation. SPARCS needed communication that could explain this system-level transformation to very different audiences — while supporting replication from two Lighthouse cities into five Fellow cities, from Kladno to Lviv.
What TWNTY delivered
Communication strategy, multiplier programme and stakeholder engagement
Media plan and media relations
Design, digital solutions and audio-visual production
Event strategy and delivery
Knowledge sharing and stakeholder capacity building framework
Online workshop on citizen engagement and positive energy districts with high-level stakeholders, including EU mission board members
What this demonstrates
SPARCS demonstrates TWNTY's ability to communicate complex energy-transition programmes while linking communication with capacity building, citizen engagement and replication — a strong reference wherever technical solutions must become credible, understandable stories for cities, markets and policy audiences.
Primary audiences
Cities and municipalities · EU institutions and policymakers · National and regional government · Industry and research organisations · District residents and local stakeholders
Related expertise
Cities & Sustainability · Strategic Communication & Engagement · Knowledge Platforms & Digital Tools
Related work
ASCEND · Smarter Together · Scalable Cities
Project sources
Official website: https://sparcs.info/