COMUNE DI LUCCA

Their core work

Comune di Lucca is a municipal government in Tuscany, Italy, that participates in EU research projects as a real-world urban testbed for sustainable mobility, digital infrastructure, and inclusive urban development. The city contributes local governance expertise, urban planning authority, and citizen engagement capacity to multi-partner consortia. Their primary value lies in providing a living laboratory — a small-to-medium European city where transport, health, and digital innovations can be piloted and validated in authentic conditions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Lucca's H2020 involvement began in 2017 with digital infrastructure (5GCITY) and progressively shifted toward people-centered urban challenges. By 2019-2020, their projects focused squarely on sustainable mobility (SUMP-PLUS) and inclusive health in disadvantaged neighborhoods (IN-HABIT). The trajectory shows a clear move from technology-driven participation toward social and environmental urban transformation.

Lucca is moving toward human-centered urban policy — future collaborations will likely involve health equity, green mobility, or neighborhood-level quality of life interventions.

How they like to work

Lucca operates exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator — typical for municipalities that contribute real-world testing environments rather than managing research agendas. With 61 unique partners across 16 countries from just 3 projects, they work in large, diverse consortia. This makes them an accessible partner: experienced in multi-national collaboration without the overhead expectations of project leadership.

Despite only 3 projects, Lucca has built a broad network of 61 partners across 16 countries, reflecting involvement in large European consortia spanning digital, transport, and urban development domains.

What sets them apart

Lucca is a historic small-to-medium Italian city — exactly the type of urban environment that many EU urban innovation projects need but struggle to recruit. Unlike large metropolitan partners (Milan, Barcelona), Lucca offers a manageable scale for piloting interventions while still facing real challenges around mobility, health equity, and neighborhood regeneration. Their track record across three distinct urban domains makes them a versatile municipal partner for any consortium needing an Italian pilot city.

Highlights from their portfolio

• IN-HABIT
  By far their largest project (€927K, 71% of total funding), focused on inclusive health and wellbeing in disadvantaged neighborhoods — a signature commitment to urban social impact.
• SUMP-PLUS
  Addresses sustainable urban mobility and logistics planning (SUMP/SULP), directly relevant to EU Green Deal transport goals and municipal policy implementation.