04 Sep 2026 — Évora will host POCITYF's closing event, bringing together the project's lighthouse and fellow cities to share what comes next for historic cities on their path to climate neutrality
One is a UNESCO-listed city in southern Portugal, the other a canal city in the north of the Netherlands. As POCITYF‘s two Lighthouse Cities, Évora and Alkmaar worked in parallel on the same question: how to develop sustainable, smart cities while preserving their unique historical and cultural heritage.
Last September, POCITYF’s partners gathered in Alkmaar to ask how far positive energy districts could realistically be scaled. These are neighbourhoods that generate more energy than they consume, built in POCITYF’s case from clusters of buildings known as positive energy blocks. A year on, the same question returns to Évora for the two-day final event that closes POCITYF’s journey.
The event taking place on 29 and 30 September under the title “Historic urban centres driving climate neutrality: POCITYF lessons and pathways” will move between reflection and practice. Lightning talks and roundtable discussions will trace the project’s storyline through direct experience, pushing past the usual talking points: what actually moved the needle on citizen engagement, which solutions held up under real conditions, and what specifically makes historic cities harder to decarbonise than any other urban setting?
“Our goal has always been to show that heritage and innovation aren’t incompatible – that they can reinforce each other and coexist. Here in Évora, the energy of the future has been built on centuries of the city’s history, and this is where we hand that lesson on to the cities ready to carry it further.” João Cravinho, POCITYF Coordinator, EDP
That conversation will also step outside the conference room, with a tour of the historic sites in Évora where POCITYF’s innovative solutions have actually been installed, hidden in plain sight. A closing training session will showcase how the replication experience has been translated into a resource other cities can use directly, and ultimately address the big question: are heritage cities ready to deliver Positive Energy Districts?
When: 29–30 September 2026
Where: Praça do Sertório s/n, 7004-506 Évora, Portugal
Registration is open to city practitioners, researchers and policymakers working on the leading edge of smart city innovation. Spots are limited. The full agenda is available here.
Photo credits jjbacelar from Pixabay
