Supporting the EU Mission “100 Climate-Neutral Cities by 2030”: A Review of Tools to Support Decision-Making for the Built Environment at District or City Scale

The Role of Positive Energy Districts through the Lens of Urban Sustainability Protocols in the Case Studies of Salzburg and Tampere

“…The discussion also often starts from the local dimension of city blocks, up to the urban dimension. In this regard, some interesting research on existing tools to support decision-making toward climate neutrality in cities and districts has been already carried out [7]. In an attempt at extreme simplification, it can be said that PEDs must strike an optimal balance between energy efficiency, energy flexibility, and local energy production, in turn also achieving integrated sustainability based on environmental, economic, and social features [12].…”

“…Develop zones and small neighborhoods with small functions to optimize consumption and networks. [7,9,11,12 A living lab is an infrastructure for the experimentation of new technologies under real conditions in a limited geographical context and over a limited period, to test their feasibility and degree of usefulness for end users (citizens, businesses, beneficiaries, etc.). Interaction with users enables continuous improvement of the technology to improve its characteristics with a view to its application on a larger scale.…”

“…Climate action in cities, districts, and neighborhoods is essential to achieve the ambitious net-zero emissions goals. All of this, along with other innovative 2 of 24 concepts developed in the past for cities of the future, will be crucial to achieving the goals the United Nations has set for themselves in the areas of energy and climate change [7]. With the new perspective indicated at the World Economic Forum in 2015, research and innovation plans for cities aim to vigorously address several global challenges that affect our cities and society: health and safety, digitization, energy, and climate change as the priority [4,5,8].…”

“…PEDs also require integration between buildings, users, energy networks, mobility services, and information systems. Although the transformation of a neighborhood is beneficial to many stakeholders involved, points of agreement are not always found that make all projects sustainable and feasible [7,[20][21][22][23]. The concept of sustainability concerns the continuity of economic, social, and environmental aspects of human society and the non-human environment, without compromising these aspects for future generations [24].…”

Multicriteria Spatial Economic Decision Support Systems to Support Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review

“…From this perspective, it is known that urban development in the coming years will have to shift from simple building solutions to positive-energy neighbourhoods and districts (Becchio et al 2020). All of this, along with other innovative concepts developed in the past for cities of the future, will be key to achieving Europe's energy and climate change goals (Suppa et al 2022). With the new Horizon Europe research and innovation plan (which will cover the period 2021-2027), Europe is aiming to vigorously address a number of global challenges that affect our cities and society: health and safety, digitization, energy and climate change in the first place (Guarino et al 2022).…”