Towards a New Integrated Spatial Decision Support System in Urban Context

Abstract

The current growth of urbanization rate indicates that this trend is not going to stop, and therefore, it stresses the necessity of actions for mitigating the local and global pollution. Moreover, most of the actual stock is characterized by low energy performances since it pre-dates the energy regulation. The paper aims at addressing this issue by proposing the integration of Building Simulation (BS) approach, Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA)methods and Geographic Information System (GIS)tool for developing a newMulti-Criteria Spatial Decision Support System (MC-SDSS)in urban context. The BS of relevant building archetypesallows to identify different resolutions of energy data: hour-by-hour data can be useful for demand-side management or renewable integration while aggregated data can be used for load forecasting and retrofit simulations. TheMCApermitschoosing between different building renovation alternatives by considering both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Moreover, the GIS support the method by creating geo-referenced databases. The methodpurposes in giving a comprehensive view to address the complexity of urban building energy planning; due to its flexibility, it can be applied to several urban areas. Three main phases characterize the study: i. overview of relevant existing techniques; ii. description of the integrated proposed method; iii. discussion and future application. The method can provide relevant feedbacks for ranking complex design energy options.