#30 Shaping the Urban Energy Transition Together – Insights into the Research Project UrbEnPro

Episode #30 focuses on a central question of the energy transition: How can electricity be produced and used collectively – especially in cities? Lena Hohenkamp talks with Andreas Bernögger from future.lab, Katrin Burgstaller from the Energy Institute at JKU Linz, and Wolfgang Haider from the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) about the research project UrbEnPro (Urban Energy Prosumerism).

Together, they explore the concept of prosumerism (simultaneously producing and consuming energy), the (new) legal frameworks for collective energy generation, why community-based electricity production in urban areas is still rare, which levers are needed to change this, and, importantly, the role of social innovation in driving the energy transition.

UrbEnPro is funded by the Austrian Climate and Energy Fund within the framework of the Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP).

UrbEnPro Workshop: 17 October 2025, 10 a.m. via Zoom. More information about the event.

Andreas Bernögger studied Spatial Planning at TU Wien and Urban Design at TU Berlin. Since 2017, he has been working in research as well as in moderation, process facilitation, and strategy development. His work focuses on learning and social innovation processes in the areas of housing, mobility, energy, and the integrated development of neighborhoods, cities, and regions. He is currently a research associate at the future.lab of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien.

Katrin Burgstaller studied law at Johannes Kepler University Linz with a focus on state, society, and politics. During her studies, she worked as a student assistant at the Institute for Constitutional and Political Science. Since mid-2020, she has been a member of the legal team in the Energy Law Department at the Energy Institute of JKU Linz, working as a junior researcher. Her research focuses on legal and regulatory aspects of electricity markets, energy communities, blockchain, energy data retention and flow, data protection, energy efficiency, sector-coupled energy storage, and guarantees of origin.

Wolfgang Haider has been a researcher and project manager at the Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI) in Vienna since 2015. His work focuses on transdisciplinary innovation research with an emphasis on socio-ecological transformation, social innovation, and governance in the context of energy and sustainability transitions. He currently coordinates the Social Innovation Mission Facility, an EU-funded initiative to strengthen social innovation within the framework of EU missions, particularly in land and soil use. Previously, he led the H2020 project RIPEET, which focused on designing, implementing, and evaluating transformative innovation processes in the energy system. He also researches social dimensions of urban prosumption models, experimental governance approaches, and the role of social innovation for climate-resilient urban and regional development.

Credits – Episode #30
Concept and hosting: Lena Hohenkamp
Recording, audio, and editing: Lena Hohenkamp

ZUKUNFT STADT Podcast – Production:
Lukas Bast, Larissa Benk, Lisa-Marie Kramer, Lena Hohenkamp, Madlyn Miessgang, Nico Schleicher

Intro music: Jakob Kotal

The ZUKUNFT STADT podcast is a project of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien. It is produced in collaboration with the future.lab and the Department of Local Spatial Planning at TU Wien.