The 3rd Open-Air Cities International Conference: Local and Regional Sustainable Development & Urban Reconstruction, organized in collaboration with Harokopio University of Athens, was held from 5–7 December 2025. AE4RIA – Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Αephoria participated in the conference.

Maria Chourdaki represented the AE4RIA team, presenting the paper “The Adaptation Investment Cycle: The Missing Link for Bridging the Regional Adaptation Gap in Europe,” authored by Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri and Dr. Konstantinos Dellis, within the thematic area of Local and Regional Development – Economy – Entrepreneurship.

The work addresses the substantial adaptation finance gap facing Europe, estimated at €15–64 billion annually. While adaptation strategies are increasingly being developed, significant barriers remain in translating these plans into concrete, investable projects. These challenges are particularly pronounced due to limited private sector engagement and ongoing economic, financial, institutional, and awareness-related constraints.

The presentation outlined the mapping of barriers to adaptation finance faced by national, regional, and sub-national actors, and introduced the Adaptation Investment Cycle (AIC), developed within the Horizon Europe Pathways2Resilience project. The AIC is positioned as a framework to bridge the gap between adaptation finance needs and the barriers impeding effective investment. The paper further discussed how the AIC can facilitate the mobilization and leveraging of both public and private capital, including innovative financial sources and instruments tailored to regional requirements.

This work contributes to the ongoing discourse on sub-national adaptation finance, regional resilience, and sustainable development.