Energy Transition and Urban Planning for Local Development. A Critical Review of the Evolution of Integrated Spatial and Energy Planning

Paolo De Pascali,Annamaria Bagaini

doi:10.3390/en12010035

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the evolution of spatial and energy planning integration, seen as a mean to foster local development, from the birth of the theme to the current prospects of shared sustainability and Decentralised Energy System (DES) solutions. The paper is a review of the evolution of the spatial and energy planning integration, exploring weaknesses and future opportunities. After an initial period of intense theoretical elaboration, the relationship between energy and city physical-functional organization and planning is still far from finding an implementation. The article explains this lack of integration through the analyses of significant steps in the last 50 years with the aim to outline current obstacles in achieving a more comprehensive vision of energy and spatial planning. The experiences selected highlight critical aspects concerning the trend towards the divergence of energy planning from systemic urban and spatial planning, also due to the low consideration of energy as a factor for local development. From the processes of decentralization and energy localism, some perspectives emerge which converge on the eco-energy district as a projection of the local energy community and which seem to enhance a more systemic and strategic dimension of planning.

Highlights

Since the 1970s researchers have studied the direct relationship between physical urban characteristics and energy systems, leading to an initial period of intense theoretical elaboration, from the end of the 1980s to the early 1990s [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]
The resulting systemic-critical framework of the relationship between energy and physical-functional organization has outlined the relevance of including energy-related planning and strategies in the spatial planning
We focus on two attributes that characterize the twentieth-century district, and still presented in the current urban regeneration projects, especially regarding the several eco-district experiences: (1) The Community/identity production and (2) The Self-sufficiency achievement

Summary

Introduction

Since the 1970s researchers have studied the direct relationship between physical urban characteristics and energy systems, leading to an initial period of intense theoretical elaboration, from the end of the 1980s to the early 1990s [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. The resulting systemic-critical framework of the relationship between energy and physical-functional organization has outlined the relevance of including energy-related planning and strategies in the spatial planning Still this theoretical awareness doesn’t find an equivalent practical application in the day-life urban governance and management. A variety of strategies and approaches in this field are drawn up by different stakeholders at different levels, bringing to tackle separate key aspects, and hindering strategic energy efficiency planning [9]. Starting from this point, the paper examines the difficult evolution of the integration process between energy and spatial planning, through the results reached by some peculiar cases, reflecting on two different approaches: (1) Top-down and urban scale oriented

Objectives

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion