On 9th December, the IN-PLAN project hosted an engaging and well-attended session during the “Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions” conference organised by EURAC Research in Bolzano, Italy. The event brought together practitioners, planners and energy experts to explore how the IN-PLAN project can support the integration of energy, climate and spatial planning at the local level.
Simona Tršinar, Senior Project Manager at REGEA, opened the session by presenting the IN-PLAN project and highlighting best practices from Croatia. Her contribution provided participants with a concrete understanding of how integrated planning approaches are being applied on the ground.
Katharina Höftberger, Head of Urban Development Team at Urban Innovation Vienna, followed with an in-depth introduction to the IN-PLAN Practice. She outlined the role of spatial planning in advancing local energy and climate objectives and presented the IN-PLAN checklist, one of the project’s key innovative tools designed to support municipalities in structuring and assessing their planning processes.
To translate these insights into practice, participants were then divided into two working groups. Each group focused on a real case study: one from Vienna, Austria, and one from Alba Iulia, Romania. Guided by Marco Slavich (AREA Science Park), along with Tiberiu Toma and Florin Andronescu (ALEA), the groups discussed the challenges and opportunities of each case and applied the IN-PLAN tools to propose integrated planning solutions.
The working atmosphere was dynamic, collaborative, and highly engaging. Participants exchanged ideas, compared experiences, and explored how the checklist and other elements of the IN-PLAN Practice could strengthen planning processes in their own contexts.
After 90 minutes of fruitful discussions, the groups presented their findings to one another, followed by an informal networking moment that allowed participants to continue their conversations and connect with peers from across Europe.
This collaborative session also offered valuable food for thought for our IN-PLAN facilitators, who left with new insights, reflections, and inspiration for the project’s final steps. We warmly thank all participants for their active engagement, thoughtful contributions, and the positive energy they brought to the workshop.
Have you missed this session? Don’t worry! You can still register for the IN-PLAN Final Event, which will happen on 10th February 2026, in Brussels. The IN-PLAN team will present the project’s main outcomes, lessons learned, and future opportunities for integrated planning:
