Balancing Decarbonization and Heritage Conservation: The Living Lab at Terrassenhaussiedlung, Graz

At this year’s EUGEO 2025 Conference in Vienna, the DeCO2 project was presented with a focus on the pressing challenge of aligning urban decarbonization strategies with heritage conservation. The session explored how housing transformation in Europe is increasingly shaped by private investments, developer-led interventions, and individual renovations, dynamics that often place pressure on the preservation of historic housing stock.

The presentation highlighted the particularly complex field of decarbonization and heritage. The questions was how culturally significant residential buildings that lack official heritage listing but carry strong architectural and social value can learn from the DeCO2 approach. Here, the interplay of market forces, preservation policies, and governance frameworks becomes especially dynamic, requiring new approaches that respect both sustainability goals and cultural continuity.

The Living Lab at the Terrassenhaussiedlung in Graz serves as a practical example. Within the DeCO2 project, residents, policymakers, and technical experts collaborate through participatory processes to co-design energy-efficient renovation strategies. This includes the testing of energy monitoring systems, integration of circular materials, and exploration of regulatory flexibilities. Importantly, these interventions are developed in ways that maintain the estate’s architectural character and social identity.

The insights presented at EUGEO show how community-driven innovation can help mediate between economic pressures and architectural values, offering scalable and transferable strategies for sustainable renovation. By bridging decarbonization and preservation, the Living Lab approach contributes to shaping more just, resilient, and culturally sensitive pathways for the transformation of Europe’s historic residential environments. The DeCO2 project thus demonstrates how participatory innovation can balance sustainability and heritage, setting an example for urban governance across Europe.