The working title for my master’s project is “Urban Residential Retrofit for Sustainable Living”. Instead of using up more resources by developing land, building something new even when following ecological principles, using new materials and develop additional infrastructures for utilities, etc. the goal is to take what already exists and redesign that in a way that achieves significantly reduction of the ecological footprint with a minimum of resources and costs and at the same time without lowering the quality and comfort of living. Another aspect is to develop measurable indicators documenting the progress in the energy and resource descent as well as the change in well being. Last not least, how a project like this can be embedded in the social fabric of the neighborhood, the community and the town to make an inspiring case that others want to follow adapted to their own situation.