Sommario
Looking at a city from above today means discovering an often invisible heritage. Thousands of roofs, terraces, and coverings remain unused, yet they could become something more: places of production, greenery, community, and energy.
From this vision comes aRTes – Active Rooftops South Europe, a European project that aims to transform rooftops across Southern Europe into active spaces for sustainability and community life.
R2M Solution is part of this transformation, contributing its expertise in digital innovation and sustainable business models. From BIM to digital twins, from urban data to GIS systems, R2M’s role is to translate technology into practical tools that enhance the quality of urban life.
A European network to rethink urban space
aRTes is co-funded by the Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) programme of the European Union and coordinated by the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
The project brings together 13 partners from seven European countries – Cyprus, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain – including universities, research centres, companies, and public administrations.
Its goal is ambitious: to reimagine urban rooftops as green and digital infrastructures, capable of generating energy, reducing emissions, and creating new spaces for social interaction.
Aligned with the European Renovation Wave and New European Bauhaus initiatives, aRTes seeks to demonstrate that the ecological transition of cities can start from a place often overlooked – their rooftops.
From project to reality: a four-phase journey
The project will run from 2025 to 2028, following a path structured into four main stages:
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Designing and building physical solutions – photovoltaic pergolas, modular pavements, green roofs, and co-designed community spaces.
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Developing digital platforms for co-design and monitoring, to collect data, measure results, and foster collaboration among citizens, professionals, and public administrations.
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Implementing pilot installations in five European cities – Madrid, Paris, Aveiro, Turin, and Nicosia – serving as open-air laboratories to test the proposed solutions.
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Engaging the community – involving residents, stakeholders, and local institutions as active participants in the design and management of these rooftop spaces, ensuring they truly become shared assets.
The project also builds on five innovation pillars – Urbanism, Constructive Solutions, Digital Services, Urban Green & Farming, and Urban Logistics – to promote an integrated approach to urban regeneration.
The contribution of R2M Solution: from technology to business model
Within the consortium, R2M Solution leads activities related to digitalisation and exploitation.
In this context, the company leverages its expertise and technologies – including Matterport – to develop advanced digital tools such as BIM models, digital twins, and GIS-based monitoring platforms. These tools make rooftops “smart”: infrastructures capable of gathering and providing useful information about energy, climate, and spatial use.
At the same time, R2M is committed to designing sustainable business models that enable the replication of aRTes solutions across diverse urban contexts.
This means defining economic, technical, and operational strategies that make rooftop transformation scalable, long-lasting, and accessible to public entities, housing cooperatives, and private investors alike.
Rooftops as living spaces, not just coverings
Behind aRTes lies a simple yet powerful idea: rooftops can become a new frontier for urban living.
They can generate renewable energy, host gardens and urban farms, provide venues for social and cultural activities, and at the same time improve buildings’ thermal comfort while reducing urban heat islands.
In this sense, aRTes is not just a technical project, but a cultural transformation experiment: it invites citizens and institutions to reimagine their relationship with urban space – making it more open, shared, and sustainable.
