Towards a smart city: an integrative spatial perspective on energy transition

Abstract

The shift towards sustainable use of renewable energy accompanied by noteworthy improvements in energy efficiency are considered as fundamental elements of energy transition, essential to the "smart city" concept as well. However, framing the role of the sustainable energy development in a mono-functional way does not allow for to use efficiently its multifunctional potential linked to sustainable development. As a result, the disconnection between energy and broader spatial and urban development agenda underplays the importance of potential synergy-effects between renewable energy production and-use and its localized context. The guiding narrative of this paper is that single although innovative solutions are insufficient and poor integration of sustainable energy-related initiatives creates barriers to achieve sustainability and limits potential synergies with their spatial context. Therefore, new demands on integrative and spatially sensitive approaches to the renewable energy development appear often catalysed by the implementation of the smart city concept and subsequent evolution of energy systems towards smart grids. This paper attempts to examine possible approaches to better understand how renewable energy systems and initiatives emerge, how to maintain and enhance them, and under which conditions they co-evolve with their unique context in a more structured and productive way towards the vision of smart city.