Background As European society has grown wealthier, it has increased its consumption of resources, especially in urban centres. The quantity of water, energy and other resources used by an average urban family has steadily increased. This in turn has increased the dependence of urban areas on outside regions for these resources as well as to serve as waste sinks. It has also led to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions and waste production. Objectives The ECOCourts project aimed to: Reduce the ecological footprint of urban families living in apartment blocks by promoting radical lifestyle changes, and by stimulating collective action and the adoption of small-scale and smart technologies and life-cycle thinking; Raise awareness among citizens about their resource consumption and about the possible benefits of collective action in communal residences; Raise awareness among property managers about their potential role as drivers of more environmentally conscious behaviour on the part of apartment block residents; Promote the idea of residential buildings (and neighbourhoods) as complex systems that through collaboration and cohesion of the families living in them can contribute significantly to reducing urban resource consumption; Develop and test an IT and online system that supports families in reducing their resource consumption; and Monitor the implementation of the activities undertaken by families in order to collect statistical information for policy-makers, to improve environmental legislation, create effective incentives, support the green economy and provide viable data on the resource reduction potential of residential buildings. Results The ECOCourts project helped promote and support collective actions and a collective approach to the sustainable management of urban resources. The dissemination of the ECOCourts strategy and its cyclic metabolism motivated families, both those living in the pilot condominiums and those taking part into the web community, to become more environmentally aware at home. A strong feeling of belonging to a common initiative was built up and very active sharing communities were established. Innovative sustainable solutions invented by individuals were shared in the community. The concrete resource saving achieved on water, energy and waste disposal resulted in measurable economic advantages. The creation of water houses meant that the purchase of around 49 000 bottles of water was avoided. Furthermore around 730 litres of waste oil were collected and an estimated total journey distance of 13 500 km was covered by bike rather than by car, thanks to bike-sharing services. Furthermore, a very strong partnership was established between the public administration and these private communities. This partnership allowed for a significant number of people to be reached and for common good practices to be shared. This example of cooperation, whereby communities support bottom-up initiatives, helped partly overcome the lack of national incentives targeted at condominiums. The ECOCourts project, working in parallel on energy, water and waste savings, demonstrated how European and national policies are often very sector-based. The Roadmap to a Resource Efficient Europe (COM(2011) 571) outlines instead how policies should interrelate and build on each other, and emphasises the building sector as having a particular impact on the environment. By encouraging and supporting families in their recycling and waste prevention efforts in their housing blocks, the project moreover contributed to achieving the goals of the Waste Directive (2008/98/EC), which focuses in particular on waste prevention, recovery, recycling, life-cycle thinking and the development of recycling markets. This LIFE project served to integrate these policies on a pilot scale, and provided evidence for the policy actions that are needed to better support resource efficiency. Specifically, the project highlighted 48 practices and 30 smart technologies for achieving domestic water, waste and energy savings. A national survey, based on around 2 600 completed questionnaires, gave a good overview of people’s awareness and commitment to reducing environmental resources. An online tutorial, Sustainable Family Tutorial (SFT), was then created based on these findings. The tutorial features a virtual apartment that users can navigate in order to learn about saving devices and get lifestyle eco-tips. By selecting different saving solutions in the SFT, users (whether they were a family, a condominium or a community of citizens) helped create an action plan. Around 5 400 subscribers joined this web community. Four cooperatives were chosen to test the tutorial at the building scale (three in Milan and one in Rome). The inhabitants’ commitment was high, with 320 families involved. Several concrete sustainable actions were implemented at the different sites and active local sharing communities were created. These led to average reductions in energy use of 33% (thermal energy: 30.6%; electric energy: 35.8%) in the pilot condominiums, thanks to smart metering and a change in consumption as outlined in the family action plans. The number of action plans compiled exceeded expectations (4 750 instead of 2 000) achieving substantial savings in waste and water, as well as energy: Water conservation: 177 566 m3/year, equivalent to 57 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; Waste: 451 133 kg /year, equivalent to 226 tonnes of CO2 equivalent; and Energy savings: 2 516 000 kWh/year, equivalent to 1 012 tonnes of CO2 equivalent.Savings in water consumption was largely achieved by proper metering, the use of water flow regulators and again a change in consumption patterns. These led to a 24% reduction in water consumption at the pilot buildings. Furthermore, the results of the project influenced the drawing up the waste policy the Blueprint Initiative and the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive. Of the families involved in the web community, 73 developed concrete sustainability practices and participated in the ECOCourts awards. Their experiences were highlighted in a special publication. Other dissemination activities included the production of 90 articles, 12 radio interviews and attendance at 70 events. Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).