Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions

This paper analyzes and contrasts the constraints, stakeholders, and framing goals that must be considered when Energy Master Planning (EMP) is conducted for communities in seven countries. The analysis is based on findings from seven countries participating in the International Energy Agency’s “Energy in Buildings and Communities Program Annex 73”. The analysis covers design constraints such as emissions, sustainability criteria, and resilience goals, regulations and directives, regional and local limitations, such as available energy types, local conditions, and various levels of stakeholders, as well as community objectives. An analysis of the various constraints on different planning levels was done, and the key stakeholders were identified. They can be characterized by different governance structures and thereby stakeholder constellations. Mapping of the stakeholders involved provides insights in further constraints resulting into issues within the EMP that will need to be addressed for multi-owner, multi-stakeholder neighborhoods and districts. With a closer look at a case study in Elverum, Norway, the paper identifies constraints related to stakeholders involved and their impact on applying EMP.

Many cities around the world have adopted climate neutrality targets, and, to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, they need climate action plans. Energy system optimization models (ESOMs) can be used as tools to support their energy transitions. ESOMs have been in use at the national level for several years and also have recently been used at the city level. Even though several researchers have focused on how city ESOMs can be developed, the literature lacks a discussion of the challenges that are faced in data collection during model development. In this paper, we share the challenges encountered in the model development, as well as in the scenario development and recommend practical solutions for overcoming these challenges. The following three challenges were identified and discussed in the model development process: (a) data availability and quality; (b) communication; and (c) knowledge and background of civil servants and researchers. The main challenges in the scenario development were: (a) parameter selection and (b) complexity. It was found that explanation of the terminology used in ESOMs, presentation of the model structure and preliminary base-year results were crucial actions for overcoming challenges during model development. During the scenario development, collaboration between modelers and civil servants when reviewing parameter combinations and working with preliminary scenario results were decisive strategies for improving the civil servants’ understanding of ESOMs. Complementarily, it was found that continuous communication between the researcher and the civil servant and good comprehension of the model on the municipality's side helped improve the usefulness of ESOMs in cities’ energy transitions.

Mediterranean deep retrofit markets are characterized by common barriers and bottlenecks, which barely have been identified as shared challenges, and this has led to a lack of dedicated solutions and to a substantial delay in achieving the 2020 EU policy targets. This situation is addressed by the H2020 HAPPEN project by proposing a new MedZEB approach characterized by the following features:

Having arrived at its midpoint, HAPPEN has produced an advanced version of its main outputs, among which are:

These outputs have been developed also thanks to an extensive living laboratory and pilot-building program, carried out within ten pilot sites across seven EU Med countries; this has made it possible for a large engagement of potential users, which resulted in the ideation of the HAPPEN program, an overall framework aimed at integrating project outputs into an exploitable renovation procedure powered by the HAPPEN platform. This paper describes the first simulation of such a procedure in its entirety based on a real case study. After characterizing the building according to the HAPPEN reference buildings and climates lists, a step-by-step cost-optimal package of solutions was calculated, followed by the application of the HAPPEN financial solution, and by the draft issue of the MedZEB protocol. Results provide the first evidence of the effectiveness of the MedZEB approach in potentially unlocking the deep retrofit market in the Med area, with special attention to the possibility of funding the interventions by relying on the economies generated by the energy savings achieved. Further, the project activities will be aimed at co-creating, together with relevant stakeholders, a go-to-market strategy for the HAPPEN program.

Smart meters, one of the crucial enablers of the smart-grid concept and cornerstones in smart planning for cities, offer the opportunity for consumers to address their energy consumption effectively through timely and accurate data on their energy usage. However, previous studies have shown that smart meters may not lead to the desired energy savings unless actively used by households. To this end, the research presented in this paper investigates the penetration of smart meters at community level and explores how such a metering system can help people to understand and manage their energy use better. It examines the awareness about smart meters, looks into their presence in current accommodation and focuses on the views people have about smart meters. For this purpose, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed to a group of individuals residing in the wide area of Ancona province in Italy. Although the deployment of modern second-generation smart meters started in 2017 replacing the outdated smart meters massively installed in the 2000s, the results show low-to-moderate levels of awareness of modern smart meters among the respondents and a low presence of second-generation metering devices in their current accommodation. However, the general view expressed by the participants about smart meters is positive. The findings demonstrate that respondents are in need not only of a gauge that measures energy consumption but also of a tool that assists them to manage effectively their energy use.

In October 2018, the Spanish SDSN Network, REDS, launched the SDG Spanish Cities Index report summarizing the progress of 100 Spanish cities toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This study, developed in collaboration with the Technical University of Madrid, follows the methodology used by the Global SDG Index and Dashboards and the US Cities Index, which SDSN co-produces annually to assess SDG performance at both the national and international levels. This study, previously developed by the same researchers, identifies the most suitable indicators, metrics and urban data to measure the commitment and degree of compliance with SDG 17 for a selection of Spanish cities. It provides, through a set of 85 indicators, a unique vision of their sustainable development and allows monitoring the implementation of the SDGs at the local level in the Spanish context. In this paper, the analysis of their interactions using this dataset has been systematized. This is an innovative first step in defining the path toward urban sustainable development to make policies happen: dependencies among the goals in terms of potential interactions need to be evaluated in the Spanish context. Those results, improvements and applicability are presented and discussed in the following to identify action priorities and raise awareness of local governments and policymakers. It concludes that major efforts are required to increase sustainability and suggests an open framework that can be gradually improved as more data become available.

Data analytics is a key resource to analyze cities and to find their strengths and weaknesses to define long-term sustainable strategies. On the one hand, urban planning is geared to adapting cities’ strategies towards a qualitative, intelligent, and sustainable growth. On the other hand, institutions are geared towards open governance and collaborative administration models. In this context, sustainability has become a global concern for urban development, and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), defined by United Nations, are the framework to be followed to define the new city goals and to measure the advances of the policies implemented over recent years. The main objective of this research is to explain the methods and results of the application of a city assessment tool for measuring the impact of public policies on the socioeconomic and environmental structure of a city. It addresses the case study of the evaluation of the strategic plan “Diseña 2020” of the municipality of Alcobendas (Madrid, Spain, with 116.037 inhabitants), the document used to communicate the actions needed to achieve the city goals during the planning exercise. A selection of urban indicators has been aligned with the SDGs defined in the Agenda 2030 to develop a tool for the measurement of the impacts of policies in economic, social, and ecological terms. Through this set of indicators, the tool is able to quantify the impact of the policies on the city and the SDGs and to support the decision-making processes of the administration. The set of urban indicators is divided into five areas: economic development and employment, sustainable development, open government, social responsibility, and quality of life. The data evolution, across the recent years 2012–2018, is used to monitor and benchmark the effects of the applied policies. In addition, Alcobendas can be compared with other Spanish and European cities with similar characteristics; it makes possible assessing the achievement of the city’s strategic areas, incorporating the current trends and fostering the SDGs. Thanks to the quantitative comparable results and the objective approach, this research shows a methodology based on indicators that could be applied and scaled to other cities to generate a common framework for measuring the impact of public policies on cities.

In the development of smart cities, there is a great emphasis on setting up so-called Smart City Control Rooms, SCCR. This paper presents Snap4City as a big data smart city platform to support the city decision makers by means of SCCR dashboards and tools reporting in real time the status of several of a city’s aspects. The solution has been adopted in European cities such as Antwerp, Florence, Lonato del Garda, Pisa, Santiago, etc., and it is capable of covering extended geographical areas around the cities themselves: Belgium, Finland, Tuscany, Sardinia, etc. In this paper, a major use case is analyzed describing the workflow followed, the methodologies adopted and the SCCR as the starting point to reproduce the same results in other smart cities, industries, research centers, etc. A Living Lab working modality is promoted and organized to enhance the collaboration among municipalities and public administration, stakeholders, research centers and the citizens themselves. The Snap4City platform has been realized respecting the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and it is capable of processing every day a multitude of periodic and real-time data coming from different providers and data sources. It is therefore able to semantically aggregate the data, in compliance with the Km4City multi-ontology and manage data: (i) having different access policies; and (ii) coming from traditional sources such as Open Data Portals, Web services, APIs and IoT/IoE networks. The aggregated data are the starting point for the services offered not only to the citizens but also to the public administrations and public-security service managers, enabling them to view a set of city dashboards ad hoc composed on their needs, for example, enabling them to modify and monitor public transportation strategies, offering the public services actually needed by citizens and tourists, monitor the air quality and traffic status to establish, if impose or not, traffic restrictions, etc. All the data and the new knowledge produced by the data analytics of the Snap4City platform can also be accessed, observing the permissions on each kind of data, thanks to the presence of an APIs complex system.

The use of photovoltaic technology is crucial to meet Europe´s ambitious climate and energy objectives set for 2030. To facilitate this shift, technological innovation is a key prerequisite, and the provision of public funding for related research and development is an important trigger. For this study, a vast set of data has been collected to explore how the EU and its Member States, plus Norway and Turkey, have so far invested in photovoltaic research and development. Based on historic values and actual trends, the authors additionally outline the possible future evolution of the investigated public funding. The study aims to shed light on the development of funding from the early 1970s until 2017 (most recent data available) and provide a forecast for 2030 (based on a business-as-usual scenario). According to results, at the national level, public funding had a considerable and steady rise after the OPEC´s oil embargo in 1973, reaching a first peak in the mid-1980s. The authors predict that, according to the most recent trends, by 2030, these will surpass 200 million € annually. In comparison, EU funding has steadily increased since its inception in the late 1980s up until 2007, but its evolvement is distinctively different, evidencing high fluctuations. The cumulative stock is also examined. National sources outweigh EU programs by a factor of almost five, and the stock should surpass 7 billion € by 2030. Based on the analysis and related insights, recommendations are elaborated on how the development of funding could inform policy strategies and actions to support research and development for photovoltaic technology.

The influence of urban density on household electricity consumption is still scarcely investigated, despite the growing attention to building energy performance and the electrification of heating systems advocated at the European level. While the positive correlation between urban sprawl developments and the increasing of marginal costs of public infrastructures, services, amenities, public, and private transports are known, there has been little research on the relationship between urban form and electricity consumption in residential building stock. The present work aims to contribute to filling the gap in the existing literature, presenting the early results of ongoing research on the role of urban form in the household electricity consumption in Italy and, consequently, the related energy costs. The building typology and, in general, the structure of urban dwellings, is crucial to forecasting the electricity requirements, taking into account single housing units and their spatial composition in multi-family homes and neighborhoods. After a brief literature review on the topic, the contribution presents empirical research on the electricity consumption at the municipal level in 140 Italian cities, analyzing the diverse consumption patterns under different conditions of urban density to verify whether there exists a significant statistical correlation between them. The analysis confirms that there is a statistically negative correlation between urban density and the log of electricity consumption, even if its incidence is very limited. Further investigation may highlight whether there exists a threshold for which this relationship would be reversed, explaining the higher electricity consumption in dense metropolitan areas.

Circular economy (CE) is a new development strategy adopted by the European Union (EU) authorities in 2014, aiming to boost global competitiveness, foster sustainable economic growth, and generate new jobs. The CE approach maintains the added value in products for as long as possible and eliminates waste; moreover, it implies totally systemic change and innovation not only in technologies, but also in organization, society, finance methods, and policies. Such an approach leads to a new model of production and consumption and a new relationship between stakeholders at the local, regional, national, and EU levels. The first consideration of CE priorities in Poland started in 2016 when the Inter-ministerial Committee for Circular Economy was established. Representatives from nine ministries became committee members, and the chief document they prepared was the Roadmap for Circular Economy Transition. The document proposed an action plan for CE implementation and focused on increasing resource efficiency and waste reduction in Poland. Prepared with the active involvement of all possible stakeholders—businesses, NGOs, the academic and research community, and local and regional authorities—the Roadmap can be seen as a quick and effective guide. In addition to national government initiatives, there were numerous attempts to implement CE principles at the local and regional levels. The main goal of the current research was to examine the effectiveness of such national, regional, local, and business CE projects for influencing Poland’s CE transition during the past three years. This study reviews the main policy documents, reports, and expertise of national, international, regional, and local organizations and NGOs involved with CE in Poland. The research is also supported by a review of the relevant academic literature. As a result, it was possible to estimate the current level of achievement, as well as future prospects for CE in Poland. Moreover, this research identifies potential opportunities for updating existing planning policies and tools related to CE-based development in Poland.

One of the factors that will affect the livability of cities and the overall citizens’ quality of life in the future is certainly climate change. Urban areas will play a fundamental role in the commitment against climate change and will have to develop appropriate adaptation actions, in accordance with the European Strategy against climate change, including the planning and implementation of Green Infrastructures (GIs). They produce various environmental and social benefits in the urban context. Various studies have shown that citizenship involvement at all levels is necessary for the evaluation of the sharing of the proposed projects. The research proposes an innovative methodological model to support administrations in the strategic planning choice of GIs according to a shared and circular approach. To perform a multi-layer assessment, the multi-criteria evaluation will be combined with the circular evaluation model called Green City Circle. The evaluation is set up as a circular process, followed by a first investigative phase, followed by a proactive phase of solutions and an implementation phase up to a final stage of evaluation of the results and strategies for long-term sustainability. The study was carried out in the city of Catania to test a planning and management tool for GIs envisaged by the administration as win–win climate adaptation measures.

A solution to cope with chaotic urban settlements and frenetic everyday life is refuging in nature as a way to reduce stress. In general—in recent years—it has been scientifically demonstrated how natural areas are an important environment for psycho-physiological health. As a consequence, it is important to plan dedicated spaces for stress recovery in order to increase the well-being of people. With respect to forests, there is a growing interest in understanding the marketing and tourist potential of forest-therapy activities and policies. This paper develops a decision support system (DSS) for decision makers, based on geographic information system to define the suitability of forest areas to improve psychological and physiological human well-being. Innovative technologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) and virtual reality (VR) are applied to test human status. The DSS combines four sets of indicators in a multi-attribute decision analysis and identifies the areas with the largest stress-recovery potential. Two multi-attribute model—one in summer and one in winter—are elaborated to obtain a dynamic evaluation of suitability. Results show significant differences among forest type, forest management, altitude range, and season in terms of stand suitability. EEG and VR seem to be promising technologies in this research area. Strengths and weaknesses of the approach, as well as potential future improvement and implications for territorial marketing, are suggested.

Recent economic, demographic, and spatial changes have profoundly modified urban and rural areas and generated new territories, characterized by varying degrees of urbanity. The classification methods traditionally used to identify them are based on the distinction between urban and non-urban areas and are no longer functional to describe the territorial outcomes of these transformations. New methods have therefore been formulated and implemented in recent years to replace them. EUROSTAT has developed and updated periodically its own methods, intended to methodologically support scholars to read territorial diversities and transformations. Being the basis for the production of official statistics and data comparison between regions, these methods have fully replaced all the other methods that singular  statistical offices of European countries had previously developed. Several government institutions began adopting specific territorial classifications in their strategic planning documents. These methods differed from those implemented by statistical offices, providing a more accurate and detailed framework for national and regional policies. This also happened in Italy, with ISTAT (Istituto Nazionale di Statistica—National Statistical Office) and many governmental institutions (e.g., National Government Institutions, Department for Economic Development and Cohesion, Ministry for Agricultural Policies, National Rural Network), experimenting with their own urban–rural classification methods to map all or part of the Italian territory. This paper offers an overview of the methods formulated and implemented in Italy over the last 15 years by ISTAT and governmental institutions. During this time, these institutions have developed six different methods to define urban and rural territories and to delimit territories with several degrees of urbanization, such as peri-urban areas. Specifically, ISTAT uses the EUROSTAT method to produce international and national statistics. Governmental institutions adopt methods based on economic and demographic data, which identify various territorial categories in addition to urban/rural ones, in their strategic planning documents. These findings result from desk research based on an analysis of official documents and scientific papers.

The paper focuses on the evolution of the planning system in Poland. Its purpose is to show the evolution from short-term planning, subordinated to the requirements of the country’s economic development, to a long-term planning system, integrating various aspects of development—spatial, natural, economic, and social, taking place over the last century. The process described in the paper was largely conditioned by historical events, and the poor economic situation of the country in the post-war period and the changes taking place in the political system. The need for rapid economic development of the country dominated the planning of the interwar period (1920s and 1930s) and post-war period (1950s to 1970s), although the economic, social, and natural conditions were taken into account in 1930s spatial planning. The most complete representation of spatial integration of various planning scopes is visible in the “National Spatial Development Concept 2030,” which was the main subject of the study, as the basic document concerning national spatial planning. The research demonstrates the novelty of this document in relation to previous ones. It is based on the vision of Polish space on, the development of functional areas, determined on the basis of socioeconomic and spatial features treated in a dynamic approach. The need for changes in applicable law that would allow the “National Spatial Development Concept 2030” to be implemented in planning practice is also pointed out. The material presented in the paper may form the basis for comparative studies of planning documents on a national level in various European countries.

There are numerous initiatives at the European level that are aimed at increasing the capacity of cities with regard to sustainable mobility planning by developing guidelines and various forms of training materials. An important prerequisite for systematic capacity building is to understand what capacity actually means in the context of mobility planning and which concrete factors influence the ability to shape and deliver sustainable mobility solutions. In the SUITS EU project, a tool for capacity assessment was developed and tested with six participant cities. Through interviews and workshops with mobility stakeholders in the participating cities, 15 challenges that the cities face while planning and implementing mobility plans were identified and led to the design of a set of 54 indicators that assess the capacity of an authority to develop and implement a mobility plan. The presented methodology enables authorities to self-assess their performance and capacity and identify the sources of the problems they face and that are impeding their effectiveness in developing and implementing mobility plans. The application in the six participating cities demonstrated that the evaluation tool here introduced is comprehensive, encompasses all the aspects of the environment in which a local authority (LA) operates and effectively highlights the areas where interventions are required so that the LAs can systematically increase their capacity.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) implementation in urban contexts has proven outcoming multiple benefits to reverse the current trend of natural resources’ degradation adversely affecting biodiversity, human health, and wellbeing. Yet, the current urban-planning policy frameworks present a rigid structure to integrate NBS definitions, and their co-benefits to get mainstreamed and up scaled on a wider urban spatial dimension. In this research, we test a complete co-creation pathway that encourages decision-makers to embed citizen engagement methodologies as an approach to co-design and co-implement NBS in shared-governance processes aiming to increment the greening of urban spaces, towards more inclusive and climate resilient cities. On one hand, we assess a tendency to involve a multiplicity of stakeholders that collaborate to the establishment of an Urban Innovation Partnership (UIP) aiming at increasing the social awareness around NBS themes, and at the same time tackling both financial and governance aspects. On the other hand, the innovation embedded in NBS paves the way to combine a multi-scalar flexibility in implementation tools and place-based urban actions, hence resulting in widespread economic, environmental, and social impacts in place. The novelty in embedding the co-creation process in urban-planning practice lies in catalyzing resources towards the transposition of research into practice through policy and planning tools for local authorities and decision-makers. Three front-runner cities (Hamburg, London, and Milan) are under investigation as part of Clever Cities—a Horizon 2020 project—aiming at implementing NBS in diverse urban-regeneration processes, through nine up-running Urban Living Labs (ULLs). Grounded on a comparative analysis of these three cities, key characterization for NBS implementation framework could be categorized into: (1) current urban-planning greening strategies in each context, (2) specific environmental and societal challenges addressed, (3) different typologies and scales of NBS integration within urban morphologies, (4) specific governance process as response to co-design and co-implementation processes, and (5) availability of financial investment and main stakeholders. As research results, we emphasize using co-creation approach in urban planning to embed and upscale NBS in an inclusive shared-governance process, hence contributing to social awareness and acceptance. Meanwhile, spatial, and financial challenges could be majorly resolved using a multi-scalar approach to manage newly embedded urban-greening policies at the urban level. Lastly, the implementation scale of NBS with local communities requires a radical paradigmatic shift in societal, individual and administrative urban-planning practices.

With a significantly changing global climate and related impacts on our societies becoming increasingly visible, the call for a significant change of the energy production and consumption system gets increasing attention. Defined as energy transition, such change involves at least two dimensions: one technological and one social. Especially the latter is gaining importance because it is argued that the impact of technological innovation could be limited, if not harmful, if the technological would not be matched with social innovation. This refers to the emergence of decentralized energy systems at the local scale, and the increased involvement of non-state actors in shaping the transition, like civil society, business, and local public authorities. It includes new forms of governance, ranging from energy communities to the design of urban living labs. This work aims to provide the first insights for the further development of a theoretical framework in relation to governance and social innovation in the context of energy transition. It builds on a bibliometric quantitative analysis to explore the extent to which changes in energy governance are reflected in the scientific literature. Results indicate that energy governance issues have quite settled in the scientific literature across the world, but that social innovation is only a recently emerging topic. A snapshot interpretive analysis is then performed to get a better understanding of what types of energy governance and social innovations are addressed. These mostly refer to energy communities and organization types related to the use of renewable energies (e.g., cooperatives and public–private partnerships), as well as obstacles and opportunities that drive their implementation. A keyword analysis is used to get the first indications on the direction of the discussion. Generally, this seems rather heterogeneous, though most often it is related to urban development and cities, as well as in relation to the planning practice. Future research should extend and carry out further in-depth analysis of the preliminary insights outlined in this work.

This research investigates the case of the Joint Programming Initiative (JPI) Urban Europe and its role as an intermediary organization, developing research, and innovation programs for urban transition. In the literature, the role of an intermediary organization has recently been discussed as an effective promoter and developer of connecting visions, strategies, activities, and stakeholders. A conceptual approach to intermediary organizations for urban transition is operationalized, and its functions are discussed in this paper. As an example, the Joint Programming Initiative Urban Europe reveals how a transnational R&I initiative, represented by 20 national R&I programs in Europe, can provide scientific evidence for sustainable urbanization with a cross-sectoral, integrated, inter- and transdisciplinary approach implemented through activities beyond joint calls. The findings show that JPI Urban Europe acts as broker and facilitator of joint visions and starts to build communities for innovation, which is one of the important functions of intermediaries. The development of its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda clearly followed a co-creation process, putting the dilemmas of city practitioners in the center. JPI Urban Europe managed to attract high levels of commitment from a diversity of stakeholders to its strategic priorities and mobilized respective budgets for its implementation. The analysis of JPI Urban Europe participation in funded projects shows that challenge-driven calls (putting the problem owners in the center) seems to successfully develop a common language for all stakeholders and has a higher likelihood to generate more transformative outcomes. The number of funded urban living labs in projects shows that room for experimentation in niches and their extension is provided. The number of city representatives as funded project partners could be increased to further stimulate active involvement. The JPI Urban Europe also acts as a translator and enabler for learning in the urban—as well as in the policy sphere—the third function. This can be confirmed by the number and type of organizations reached with its specific formats. JPI Urban Europe coordinates joint activities of mainly national R&I programs but has only indirect influence on change in these organizations and limited influence on changes within research organizations, businesses, or cities that are even less connected. Overall, it can be concluded that the strategic ambition of JPI Urban Europe towards transformative change is obvious, but some instruments and formats to translate the ambition into action need further refinement, and it needs further in-depth research to better understand the outcomes and impacts of its diverse activities.