Smart energy city development: A story told by urban planners

Mosannenzadeh, Farnaz; Bisello, Adriano; Vaccaro, Roberto; D’Alonzo, Valentina; Hunter, Garfield Wayne; Vettorato, Daniele

doi:10.1016/j.cities.2017.02.001

Cited by 129 publications

(82 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Stakeholders are individuals or groups who have an interest in and are impacted by the success or failure of a project [9]. All-SEC projects are developed based on bottom-up collaboration within the triple helix [9] of internal (decision-makers, experts-universities and research institutes, and the private sector/industry), external (end-users), and lateral (utilities, community groups, financial institutions, and investors).…”

Section: Procedural Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The central planning themes constituted about 75% of the planning domains, whereas the remainder represented the domains of other planning themes (Table 3). The domains of SEC projects are the essential priority areas and the integrated alternative solutions [9]. Therefore, in-keeping with operational approach utilised in [9,24,41] to demarcate domains, we found that transportation and mobility (included in 85% of the projects), energy and technology (included in all or 100% of the projects), buildings (included in all the projects), and ICT and integrated infrastructure (included in all the projects) are the four principal domains covered in all SEC projects (see Figure 4).…”

Section: Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All-SEC projects are developed based on bottom-up collaboration within the triple helix [9] of internal (decision-makers, experts-universities and research institutes, and the private sector/industry), external (end-users), and lateral (utilities, community groups, financial institutions, and investors). From Figure 6, all the projects involved the participation of the internal stakeholders, and the majority (85%) also featured in end-user involvement.…”

Section: Procedural Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such projects have the opportunity to potentially improve the quality of life and the quality of urban services [9,28]. By adopting an integrated approach, the SEC project can achieve more holistic solutions to complex problems by bringing together different kinds of stakeholders, sectors, and technologies, and incorporating the dimension of sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Creating Smart Energy Cities for Sustainability through Project Implementation: A Case Study of Bolzano, Italy

Hunter

Vettorato

Sagoe³

2018

Sustainability

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Globally, cities are experiencing an unprecedented socio-economic, demographic, and environmental transition that brings with it negative environmental externalities, such as climate change and environmental degradation. Smart energy city (SEC) has emerged as the latest urban development strategy in European countries. It can vastly accelerate cities' decarbonisation efforts, which can have several co-benefits. Capitalising on advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), various SEC projects have been initiated and seek to integrate ICT into the urban system. Although there are a significant number of SEC demonstration projects, there has been a scant examination of the performance and overall effect of these projects in addressing core sustainability endogenous principles. This research provides an in-depth analysis of the components of the SEC projects, highlighting the strengths and shortcomings. By highlighting the "Smart INitiative of cities Fully cOmmitted to iNvest In Advanced large-scale energy solutions" (SINFONIA) project in Bolzano, we aimed to determine the extent to which the current practical processes are achieved in reality. Our methodology entailed a structured literature review of the different components of SEC projects, followed by a content analysis based on the 5W1H (why, what, who, how, where, and when) conceptual framework. The data collection methods adopted included a review of specific open-access sources and project deliverables of each of the selected SEC projects, personal observation of the case study city, and interviews with SEC project experts. We analysed the SEC projects components against fundamental sustainability principles of integration, implementation, equity (intra-generational, procedural, and inter-generational), and scalability and replicability to assess their potential for creating sustainable urban settlements. The study found that the critical components of SEC projects are strategically aligned with sustainability dimensions. However, although ICT integration in urban planning and development provides the core determinants of the components, stakeholder engagement and dynamic business models are critical for successful implementation. Furthermore, through scalability and replicability of SEC projects, diversification of sustainability principles can be actualised throughout the entire city and in other geographical regions to ensure long-term intra-generational and inter-generational equity.

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Section: Procedural Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Integrationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Procedural Equitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Creating Smart Energy Cities for Sustainability through Project Implementation: A Case Study of Bolzano, Italy

Hunter

Vettorato

Sagoe³

2018

Sustainability

Self Cite

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“…A city could be defined as 'smart' if it is able to reach a high level of efficiency, flexibility, and responsiveness by increasing the quality of the services offered to its citizens such as energy supply, traffic, information control, and waste management [11,12]. They are managed by considering the district as a sequence of overlapping layers, each one with a grid structured in cells, edges, and nodes.…”

Section: The Energy Rural Silo (Ers)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Best Practices for Recovering Rural Abandoned Towers through the Installation of Small-Scale Biogas Plants

Manni¹,

Coccia²,

Cavalaglio³

et al. 2017

Energies

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Abstract:The massive and continuous development of renewable energy systems is making it possible to achieve the European goals regarding environment and sustainability. On the other hand, it leads to the progression of significant problems such as low renewable energy density (i), social acceptability (ii), and non-programmability of renewable energy sources (iii). The rural architecture, which is largely present in the countryside of central Italy, is generally equipped with several annexes such as dovecotes (i), grain stores (ii), and tobacco drying kilns (iii). Nowadays, those towers appear in decay because of the decline of agricultural activities, although they are classed as Environmental and Historical Heritage sites. The present work aims to propose a methodology for improving the energy grid in the countryside, while reusing abandoned buildings by modifying their function and maintaining their aspect as much as possible. The proposed workflow was applied to a rural silo, which has fallen into disuse, in Sant'Apollinare (Marsciano, Perugia) by converting it into a mini-biogas plant. The function of the annex which was chosen as the case study changes from agricultural use to energy production: it becomes an on-site renewable energy-based electric grid that can produce clean energy from agricultural and forestry residues. The project turns out to be sustainable not only in terms of energy and the environment, but also from an economic point of view as a result of the recent regulations and incentives for renewable energy production.

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