YouRban

Europe is expected to generate almost 700,000 tonnes of reinforced polymer waste in 2025 and YouRban aims to address this challenge in an innovative and participatory manner. The project aims to create an active and aware urban community to find creative solutions for recycling and upcycling, in particular for reinforced polymers. By promoting the values of sustainability and inclusiveness and the knowledge of circular economy processes, the project will activate an urban ecosystem involving citizens, artists, designers, architects and small-scale producers (e.g., FabLabs and artisans' workshops or Urban Factories). The project is developed around two pillars: a pilot project in Milan and a pilot project in Barcelona. YouRban is based on an innovative research strategy which draws on the European Union's Green Deal and New European Bauhaus initiatives, promoting workshop and training activities for artists and designers. The beating heart of the project is its truck, a mobile laboratory conceived as a true travelling workshop. This plant houses recycling and reprocessing technologies for end-of-life composite materials. The truck is not just a production tool, as it is also a powerful dissemination medium designed to promote the new values of the circular economy through exhibitions, artistic events and participatory activities related to the circular economy. The involvement of YouRban's partners from Italy, Spain, Lithuania and Austria ensures specialised expertise and training. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Programme HORIZON-CL4-2023-HUMAN-01