Multidimensional index of fuel poverty in deprived neighbourhoods. Case study of Madrid

Abstract

This study was conducted in response to the need to integrate the existing methods for assessing urban deprivation in European cities and introduce in such analyses the fuel poverty-related factors that induce it. Poor residential building thermal quality in the least advantaged neighbourhoods is a significant vector in inhabitant vulnerability. As this cross-cutting, complex problem must be broached comprehensively and on an urban scale, a methodology is proposed that would include a multidimensional fuel poverty index for application to deprived neighbourhoods. The method is illustrated with a case study for the city of Madrid, Spain. Data published by the country’s Urban Deprivation Observatory were cross-referenced with those from earlier studies to quantify fuel poverty and determine its spatial distribution. In future the findings will be related to basic indicators to formulate the nationwide list of deprived neighbourhoods and to the results of other fuel poverty-specific methodologies, from building energy inefficiency to those addressing causes and consequences. In addition to including the specifics of fuel poverty in urban deprivation analysis, the findings suggest that data from the observatories participating in the Urban Poverty Partnership might be cross-referenced with those of the EU’s Energy Poverty Observatory (EPOV).