JUST4CARE brings together 16 partners from 7 countries to connect climate science, local knowledge, municipal action, participation and policy learning. Our consortium works across four pilot cities — Madrid, Çankaya, Budapest and Zagreb — to learn how urban climate adaptation can protect everyday life without creating new inequalities.
Our purpose
Climate change does not affect everyone in the same way. Heatwaves, floods and extreme weather place greater pressure on people with fewer resources to protect themselves, especially where housing, public space, health, mobility, income or social support are already unequal.
That is why JUST4CARE brings together partners who work at different scales and from different forms of expertise. Some partners develop climate-risk evidence and AI-supported tools. Others work directly with municipalities, neighbourhood organisations and communities. Others focus on governance, capacity building, replication, communication and policy learning.
The consortium’s shared task is to make adaptation fairer: to understand who is most exposed, who can be left out, what forms of knowledge count, and how cities can act without creating new harms such as exclusion, displacement or unequal access to climate protection.
A consortium designed around complementary roles
JUST4CARE is organised around seven work packages and a network of local ecosystems. BC3 coordinates the project and leads scientific work on risk assessment and AI-supported climate justice tools. REC leads the review and analysis of just climate resilience actions. Dark Matter Labs leads work on capacity, governance, finance and participation. GEA21 coordinates piloting in local ecosystems. I-CATALIST leads knowledge exchange and replication. Democratic Society leads communication and collaboration.
The pilot cities and local partners – Madrid Municipality, Çankaya, Budapest, Józsefváros, Zagreb, Espacio Bellas Vistas, Bursa Uludağ University, DOOR and REGEA – make the project concrete in neighbourhoods where climate risks intersect with everyday inequalities.
Research and specialist partners such as BC3, NIVA and Bursa Uludağ University help ensure that the project is grounded in evidence while remaining connected to local realities. Civil society and community-facing partners help keep the work accountable to the people whose daily lives are affected by climate adaptation decisions.
External Advisory Board
JUST4CARE is supported by an External Advisory Board: a group of independent experts who help the project reflect critically on its approach, test its assumptions and strengthen the quality of its learning.
The Board brings external perspectives on urban resilience, climate adaptation, water-sensitive planning, participatory democracy, public space, governance and social innovation. Its role is not to replace local knowledge or consortium decision-making, but to offer constructive advice so that JUST4CARE can better connect scientific evidence, community experience and public action.
The External Advisory Board includes:
Peter Marcus Bach
Advisor on urban water systems, blue-green infrastructure and climate adaptation planning. His perspective supports JUST4CARE’s work on making urban resilience practical, evidence-informed and sensitive to the way water, heat and public space shape everyday life.
Marie-Christine Therrien, Cité-ID LivingLab Urban Resilience Governance
Advisor on urban resilience governance, crisis management and institutional capacity. Her perspective helps the project consider how cities organise, coordinate and learn when resilience needs to move from strategy to implementation.
Pablo Sendra, UCL Professor of Urban Design and Public Participation
Advisor on urban design, public participation and the social life of public space. His perspective supports JUST4CARE’s attention to neighbourhoods, co-design, collective care and the risks of adaptation that improves places without protecting the people who live there.
Ione Ardaiz Osacar, Arantzazulab
Advisor on democracy innovation, collaborative governance and deliberative processes. Her perspective helps JUST4CARE strengthen the link between participation, public institutions and the collective decisions needed for just climate adaptation.
Get involved
Interested in JUST4CARE?
For general enquiries, collaboration opportunities, events, resources or communication requests, please contact the JUST4CARE team through this form.