Energy planning at the district level: an Implementation Plan as a first step towards smarter city development

Abstract

Energy policies have recently been developed and funded, from the Nineties’ initiatives right up to that of the actual EU Smart City and Communities confirm the interest focused on cities for strategic interventions in the energy sector. Nevertheless, many questions are still open about this: how to manage energy issues at the urban scale and by means of which kind of tool? In order to contribute to the debate around this topic, the author takes into account the methodology proposed by the FP7 project “TRANSFORM-TRANSFORMation Agenda for Low Carbon Cities” and its results, as one of the possible pathways to face the challenge. According to the TRANSFORM Project approach, the Implementation Plan (IP) is understood as a strategic document at the district scale which can be used to support the development of a strategy for an urban area (Smart Urban Lab, SUL). From the collected case-studies within TRANSFORM’s framework some general outputs can be underlined in order to draw concluding reflections from the methodological point of view. To verify the method proposed within the project frame, in particular the case study of Voltri district in Genoa (IT) and its implementation plan are discussed. After considering this example, the paper is, then, able to abstract some general remarks concerning energy planning at the district level and positive and negative aspects of the implementation of energy measures at this scale, resulting from the drawing up of IPs in TRANSFORM’s devoted phase. Features of the district, energy potential and designed interventions are explained in order to observe light and shadow of the implementation of energy planning measures at the district level and its future perspectives.