Effective Urban Energy Planning and Governance: A New Conceptual Framework

Abstract

Beyond any doubt climate change and its resulting uncertainties challenge the concepts, procedures, and scope of conventional approaches to the planning of our cities. Thus, demanding from us to situate the energy issue in the central when planning urban spaces. Yet, the literature is vague in the context of urban energy, and there is a lack of a theoretical framework that conceptualizes urban energy planning. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to propose a new multifaceted conceptual framework for theorizing urban energy planning based on multidisciplinary literature. Eventually, this study elaborates a conceptual framework that consists of eight concepts that were identified through a conceptual analysis of interdisciplinary literature on sustainability, climate change, ecology, economics, and urban planning. These concepts, which together constitute the theoretical framework of urban energy planning for climate change, are: Utopian Vision, Equity, Uncertainty, Natural Capital, Eco-Form, Integrative Approach, Ecological Energy, and Ecological Economics.