Cities are expected to play an increasingly important role in the future global energy system due to the rapid rate of urbanization. As a reaction to this, the concept of ecological cities, or EcoCities, has gained a foothold in the world and there are numerous commenced EcoCity projects worldwide. As an example, it is said that there are over 250 EcoCity projects in China alone. However, there is no definitive definition of what an EcoCity is per se and thus it is relevant to ask what lies behind the "eco" in these projects. EcoCity planning is generally recommended to be carried out through a holistic planning approach by incorporating a wide range of focus areas in the project. The holistic planning is often claimed to be the key to successful EcoCity projects. Therefore, this article has identified 10 focus areas and used these to evaluate EcoCity projects by analyzing how many of these focus areas that have been taken in consideration in the projects. The higher number of focus areas in consideration, the higher score and thus the higher level of ambition, i.e. the city is planned in a more holistic manner. The projects have also been analyzed by identifying the year of start and geographical location in order to compare whether the level of ambition is varying between different parts of the world and during different time periods and by that identify whether EcoCity projects are planned with a more holistic approach now than earlier. IntroductionCities are undoubtedly the largest creations of humanity. Designing, constructing and operating cities has a great destructive impact on nature. Cities are by far more than just buildings offering shelter to its inhabitants, which become evident when studying cities while keeping the rapid global urbanization in mind. Currently more than half of the global population lives in urban areas and projections suggest an urbanization growth rate of 1.85% annually [1]. Consequently, cities are playing a major role in today's global energy system and will play an increasingly important role in the future global energy system. As a reaction in the wake of the defined concept of sustainable development in the 1980:s and to the environmental concerns arising due to the increasing urbanization, the concept of an ecologically friendly city, or EcoCity, is getting more and more commonly used when planning new cities or neighborhoods as well as improving existing cities in terms of energy use or CO 2 emissions.When studying cities there are many aspects to take in consideration, i.e. what kind of transportation system that is used and how it is operated, how the waste collection is managed and how the purification of water is carried out, as well as how the supply of energy is performed and which energy sources that are used etc. It is clear that there are many aspects that need to be taken in consideration when planning cities, and especially when planning cities with ambitious goals concerning energy use and greenhouse gas emissions reductions. One is normally and popularly refer...

There is increasing concern regarding current energy feedback approaches as they focus on the individual level, and mostly on household electricity, while the bulk of energy use often lies in heating and cooling. The aim is typically to change user routines, which does not bring a long-lasting impact. In our case study, we address these concerns for apartment buildings by looking at housing cooperatives, the dominant form of apartment ownership in the Nordic countries. These cooperatives manage the heating costs in common and therefore have a large potential for energy saving through long-lasting improvements and investments. We also emphasise the amateur nature of energy work within such cooperatives and consider the implications of our field study findings, interpreted through these amateur and cooperative perspectives, for the design of interactive artefacts.

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End use energy services have an important role in the ongoing energy transition process by improving the value proposition to the customer through better needs fulfillment and experience and providing system value to the energy system. This study presents a framework for end use energy services, developed as a result of co-creation with multiple stakeholders for a case study in a living lab context. The framework has been co-created using the principles of systems thinking to identify and map both existing and emerging elements and interactions within the energy system and customers. The framework is organized to include aspects from energy system and human system perspectives and divides the energy services development process into three distinct stages. The development stages comprise the strategic planning stage, service design stage, and solution stage. Key considerations are provided for each stage to develop a clearer understanding of the overall end use energy service process.

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