Beyond One-Size-Fits-All: Rethinking Carbon-Neutral Cities through Standards, Space, and People
webinar
20 November 2025
10:00
to
11:00
(Paris)
On-line
The recording of the webinar is available here.
Carbon neutrality is no longer a theoretical target—it requires actionable frameworks rooted in local context, human behavior, and measurable governance. This webinar offers municipal leaders, public authorities, and organizations navigating net-zero commitments a proven methodology for transforming climate ambitions into embedded urban practices that drive economic resilience, social equity, and genuine emissions reductions.
What Sets This Webinar Apart
Cities worldwide have pledged carbon neutrality, yet implementation remains the critical challenge. This session cuts through generic blueprints by introducing an enhanced evaluation framework inspired by Kate Raworth's Doughnut model, adapted specifically for urban sustainability. Rather than imposing one-size-fits-all solutions, this framework enables cities to operationalize climate goals within their unique socioeconomic, spatial, and governance contexts—ensuring carbon neutrality is achieved on paper and embedded in everyday urban life.
Spatial and Temporal Dimensions That Matter
The conventional 15-minute city model, while spatially elegant, often overlooks critical human factors. This webinar introduces chronotope (the dynamic relationship between time and space in urban life) and topophilia (residents' emotional attachment to place) as essential design principles. These concepts enable planners to create neighborhoods where citizens choose sustainable behaviors because they enhance quality of life—not because policies mandate them.
The conventional 15-minute city model, while spatially elegant, often overlooks critical human factors. This webinar introduces chronotope (the dynamic relationship between time and space in urban life) and topophilia (residents' emotional attachment to place) as essential design principles. These concepts enable planners to create neighborhoods where citizens choose sustainable behaviors because they enhance quality of life—not because policies mandate them.
Governance Tailored to Local Reality
One-size-fits-all governance fails. This webinar demonstrates how public-led, private-led, and partnership models should be selected and customized based on local institutional capacity, stakeholder trust, and economic structure. Public authorities will learn frameworks for aligning governance approaches with implementation feasibility rather than adopting standardized solutions that may not suit their context.
One-size-fits-all governance fails. This webinar demonstrates how public-led, private-led, and partnership models should be selected and customized based on local institutional capacity, stakeholder trust, and economic structure. Public authorities will learn frameworks for aligning governance approaches with implementation feasibility rather than adopting standardized solutions that may not suit their context.
Co-creation Rooted in Behavioral Economics
Future-ready cities require service models co-created with citizens and informed by behavioral economics. This approach moves beyond traditional top-down planning by incorporating psychological insights into how urban residents make decisions. The result: climate-neutral services that feel beneficial to users, driving sustained behavior change without constant enforcement.
Key Benefits for Attending Organizations
- Actionable Frameworks: Practical methodologies to evaluate and adapt carbon-neutral city models to your local context
- Governance Guidance: Evidence-based approaches for selecting appropriate governance models and stakeholder structures
- Behavioral Integration: Techniques to ensure climate initiatives resonate with citizen priorities and foster long-term adoption
- Performance Alignment: How to translate ambitious climate targets into measurable, citizen-experienced outcomes
- Standards-Based Approach: Connection to international standards (ISO 37120 series, ETSI frameworks) ensuring interoperability and credibility
Who Should Attend
- Municipal leaders and city administrators pursuing net-zero targets
- Public authorities managing climate action programs and urban development
- Organizations developing carbon-neutral urban solutions and services
- Governance experts designing stakeholder engagement models
- Consultants and researchers supporting cities in climate transition planning
About the Speaker
Dr. Jeong-Hyeok Park, Urban Engineer and Smart Cities Specialist
Dr. Park is a leading expert in carbon-neutral urban strategies and digital twin–based urban innovation, serving as a national representative in ISO TC 268 on sustainable cities and communities. His work bridges international standards development with practical implementation, bringing expertise from:
Dr. Jeong-Hyeok Park, Urban Engineer and Smart Cities Specialist
Dr. Park is a leading expert in carbon-neutral urban strategies and digital twin–based urban innovation, serving as a national representative in ISO TC 268 on sustainable cities and communities. His work bridges international standards development with practical implementation, bringing expertise from:
- Horizon Europe research projects on sustainable urban systems
- Technical collaboration with leading institutions including the Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
- AI-driven analytics and data governance frameworks for urban carbon management
- International partnerships advancing climate-resilient planning across Europe and Asia-Pacific regions
Dr. Park uniquely combines technical standards expertise with field-tested experience in translating abstract climate targets into operational city transformation strategies.
Why This Matters Now
Cities accounting for 75% of global GHG emissions face unprecedented pressure to deliver results within the 2025–2030 critical decade. Yet generic climate plans often fail because they ignore local context, governance capacity, and human behavior. This webinar bridges that gap by providing frameworks that are simultaneously ambitious, locally-tailored, and psychologically grounded in how real people make sustainable choices.