Cities4ZERO Approach to Foresight for Fostering Smart Energy Transition on Municipal Level

Abstract

<jats:p>Smart energy transition efforts at the municipal level are gaining importance and go far beyond implementing single projects. Decarbonising cities involves complex strategic planning and needs system level thinking and changes. This has been increasingly realised at the municipal level, but challenges remain regarding the tools, involvement of stakeholders and on the development of policies. The focus of the research is on the use of participatory foresight for fostering smart energy transition on a municipal level, the key benefits and success factors that participatory foresight brings, and the replicability of this approach. Within the novel Cities4ZERO framework, an overarching methodology for a smart urban decarbonisation transition, guiding cities through the process of developing the most appropriate strategies, plans, projects, as well as looking for the commitment of key local stakeholders for an effective transition–foresight framework, was developed and tested in five pilot cities. Foresight as applied within the Cities4ZERO framework creates a participatory process which brings stakeholders together to achieve unified scenarios, and a common vision for future urban decarbonisation strategies. The methodology is replicable and increases the quality of strategic energy planning by fostering long-term system thinking.</jats:p>

Does Environment Matter in Smart Revitalization Strategies? Management towards Sustainable Urban Regeneration Programs in Poland

“…On the other hand, the data on energy performance cannot be shown, because only the data for municipal buildings, i.e., only part of the buildings in municipalities, is available. The availability of data is the most important challenge hindering in-depth analysis in Polish regeneration programs [61,64,92]; however, the literature provides detailed formulas on how to conduct analyses with the use of smart city tools in the environmental sphere [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]83,85,93]. To make this possible, Poland needs a better information infrastructure.…”

“…A longer perspective (Figure 1) on Poland's economic growth and CO2 emissions are indicated by the shape of the letter U; therefore the EKC hypothesis is not correct [100]. [61,64,92]; however, the literature provides detailed formulas on how to conduct analyses with the use of smart city tools in the environmental sphere [70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80]83,85,93]. To make this possible, Poland needs a better information infrastructure.…”

“…They also point out that without constant presentation of these results to the local community, in a legible form and with the involvement of stakeholders to co-decide on prospective changes, smart city tools are worthless gadgets [82]. Data helps to better illustrate challenges, including the ones related to the energy efficiency of buildings in regeneration areas [83]; however, in order to use them, it is necessary to provide an information infrastructure and an appropriate number of data points, which is a particular difficulty in Central and Eastern European cities [37]. This is an important context for the analysis in this article.…”

Citizen Engagement for Co-Creating Low Carbon Smart Cities: Practical Lessons from Nottingham City Council in the UK

“…In spite of this shift, Saunders and Baeck [14] report it is still common for smart city strategies to be void of meaningful engagement in the design of new energy and low carbon interventions. While policymakers and planners generally understand, and often aspire toward enabling more inclusive participatory strategic planning processes [27]. There is far less consensus as to how to make this a realisation even with the addition of digital tools Leyden et al [28].…”

Towards an Integrated Approach to Urban Decarbonisation in Practice: The Case of Vitoria-Gasteiz

“…The Cities4ZERO methodology [10] was developed as a consistent guide to effectively integrate urban planning and energy policies, plans, and practices. It provides a holistic approach to strategic municipal processes for urban decarbonisation in the mid-long term, which includes key local stakeholders' engagement into integrated energy planning processes (for Vitoria's foresight case, see [11], as well as tools for effective energy decarbonisation modelling (such as ENER-BI; see [12]).…”