Urban Structure, Energy and Planning: Findings from Three Cities in Sweden, Finland and Estonia

Abstract

Transforming energy use in cities to address the threats of climate change and resource scarcity is a major challenge in urban development. This study takes stock of the state of energy in urban policy and planning and reveals potentials of and constraints to energy-efficient urban development. The relationship between energy and urban structure provides a framework for discussing the role of urban planning to increase energy efficiency in cities by means of three in-depth case studies of medium-sized cities in Northern Europe: Eskilstuna in Sweden, Turku in Finland and Tartu in Estonia. In some ways these cities go ahead when it comes to their national climate and energy policies and aim to establish urban planning as an instrument to regulate and influence the city’s transition in a sustainable way. At the same time, the cities are constantly facing goal conflicts and limitations to their scope of action, which creates dilemmas in their strategic orientation and planning activities (e.g. regional enlargement and increased commuting vs. compact urban development). Finally, considering urban form and spatial structure along with the policy context as well as regional drivers and functional relations is suggested as a suitable approach for addressing the challenges of energy-efficient urban development.

The Zero Energy Idea in District. Application of a Methodological Approach in the Case Study of Epinlieu (Mons)

“…Replying to the U-ZED's research questions, we developed different phases in our analysis: (1) the Diagnostic Study with the assessment of the actual situation in respect to indicators, such as the geographical location, the building typology, etc., (2) the Transition Phase towards the zero energy application. Replying to the U-ZED's research question for the district of Epinlieu, we summarize the study in the phases below:…”

“…Girarbet [1] highlights the 'energy management' as a priority issue in future urban development of modern cities. Große et al [2] cite the interrelation among the urban structure and the energy as a key perception in climate policies. Indeed, for decades, the urban development in city districts has been influenced by initiatives related to renewable resources to enhance the energy efficiency in buildings and reduce the energy requirements.…”

“…The connection among the urban structure and the energy consumption in cities has been investigated by scholars and studies for more than three decades and is being increasingly incorporated in policy-oriented documents from the EU and other institutions [2]. Owens [3], Salat [4] and Ewing and Rong [5] have analyzed the influence of the density, the architecture and the urban structure in energy consumption.…”

“…The rapidly growing world energy use has already raised concerns over supply difficulties, exhaustion of energy resources, heavy environmental impacts of the climate change, etc. During the last two decades, primary energy has grown by over 40% and CO2 emissions by 43% [2]. Over 60% of the global energy demand is consumed in contemporary cities by increasing the energy requirements [3].…”

Energy Efficiency in the Urban Scale: Case Study – Prague, Czech Republic

“…Lower density structures demonstrate the lower level of energy efficiency (Rode et al, 2014). There is a common agreement among researchers about the efficiency of compact cities (Große et al, 2016), there are other important issues, such as passive solar radiation and the ventilation factor. With the increase of compactness, the possibility to use natural resources like passive solar energy is decreasing since the tall building may cast shadows and block the natural light and solar heat and reduce the efficiency of passive cooling (Littlefair, 1998).…”