scholarly journals Assessing Multiple Benefits of Housing Regeneration and Smart City Development: The European Project SINFONIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (19) ◽  
pp. 8038
Author(s):  
Adriano Bisello
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Multicriteria Analysis ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Revealed Preferences ◽  
The European Union ◽  
City Development ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Urban Energy

The urban energy transition towards more sustainable energy production and consumption systems is at the top of the European Union political agenda. Several demonstration projects are dealing with the deep-energy retrofit of real-estate assets to show how technological and societal innovation can provide new investment opportunities while enhancing citizens’ quality of life by delivering multiple benefits. In this framework, the EU smart city project SINFONIA has developed and tested a new comprehensive framework to define, identify, and evaluate the main multiple benefits expected from similar initiatives. The present contribution reviews the three assessment exercises carried out in the lighthouse city of Bolzano during the project execution, consisting of an investigation of the users’ stated preferences, an evaluation of consumers‘ revealed preferences and a multicriteria analysis of homeowners’ priorities. It offers an overview of the main achievements and sheds light on further investigatory paths applicable to Positive Energy Districts assessment.

scholarly journals The Nexus between Market Needs and Value Attributes of Smart City Solutions towards Energy Transition. An Empirical Evidence of Two European Union (EU) Smart Cities, Evora and Alkmaar

Smart Cities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 604-641
Author(s):  
Paraskevi Giourka ◽  
Vasilis Apostolopoulos ◽  
Komninos Angelakoglou ◽  
Konstantinos Kourtzanidis ◽  
Nikos Nikolopoulos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Social Impact ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Novel Technologies ◽  
Sustainable Value ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Value Propositions

This study presents an experiential process and a market-oriented approach for realizing cities’ energy transition through smart solutions. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) present a process for defining a repository of innovative solutions that can be applied at building, district, or city level, for two European Union cities, Evora and Alkmaar, and support the deployment of positive energy districts enabling a sustainable energy transition, and (b) understand in a systematic way the attributes of value offered by energy-related smart city solutions, in order to facilitate the development of sustainable value propositions that can successfully address city needs. The repository is assessed against four elements of value, which include social impact, life-changing, emotional, and functional attributes, according to the value pyramid of Maslow. Results show that the value attributes of quality, motivation, integration, cost reduction, information, and organization are highly relevant to the proposed smart solutions. The results presented in this study are useful for city planners, decision-makers, public bodies, citizens, and businesses interested in designing their energy transition strategy and defining novel technologies that promote urban energy sustainability.

scholarly journals The latest generation of EU Smart city projects: turning "clean energy for all" into "clean benefits for all

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriano Bisello ◽  
◽  
Daniele Vettorato ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Ongoing Research

The European Union is in the process of updating its energy policy and legislative framework under the motto “Clean Energy for All Europeans”. This will facilitate the low carbon energy transition, make it fit for the 21st century, and delivering the EU’s Paris Agreement commitments. Besides expected climate-energy benefits, the EU narrative is introducing new elements to persuade citizens and stakeholders to change their perspective, shifting the general perception from mitigation costs to development opportunities. For example, impact assessment of the new directives estimated that they would generate 900,000 jobs and an increase of up to 1% in EU GDP over the next decade. However, this is just one among several multiple benefits that could be gained thanks to the smart energy transition of cities and neighborhoods (e.g. increased value of refurbished properties, improved health and well-being, enhanced social cohesion, etc.) Starting from this premise, the ongoing research will analyses 12 ongoing EU smart cities and communities projects started between 2014 and 2017, in order to investigate their capability in using the multiple benefits as an effective communication tool, or even including them among the key performance indicators to be used in the assessment phase. In that respect, the Positive energy district concept that permeates the smart city approach of latest calls for funding provides, even more, an interesting nexus and testbed opportunity for EU ambitions. However, ongoing and future projects need to be understood not only as marketing devices for new energy efficient technologies but powerful tools requiring a radical change in management and planning of cities and urban life. In this way, positive energy districts including good habits and behaviors of urban citizens will provide equitable solutions and clear benefits for all.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF INTEGRATED CITY DEVELOPMENT: EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE AND POSSIBILITIES OF ITS IMPLEMENTATION IN UKRAINE

2021 ◽  
pp. 178-194
Author(s):  
Olena GOLOVNYA ◽  
Maryna KONDRATOVA
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Participatory Management ◽  
The European Union ◽  
City Development ◽  
European Experience

The authors investigate that the leading form of territorial and socio-economic organization of modern society are cities. At the same time, cities act as drivers of socio-economic development, political prosperity and social progress and will undoubtedly be important for the formation of competitiveness in the world. It is established that one of the documents, which was developed with the participation of representatives of common European interests and promotes to integrated urban development, is the Leipzig Charter «Cities of Europe on the path to sustainable development». The practice of participatory management helps integrated urban development. Participatory management becomes relevant in the context of decentralization and community development, in particular participatory budgeting, which is the opportunity for city residents to participate in decision-making on how to allocate a certain part of the budget. It is analysed, that plenty of international indexes is for the quantitative and quality estimation of development of cities, that allow to explore tendencies and estimate influence of political decisions and steps that is accepted within the limits of cities for the improvement of welfare of habitants. A category ‒ «Smart City» is investigated. It is set that in rating of Smart Cities Index the first places occupy New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Reykjavik. Among the terms of development of the integrated cities on the basis of conception of «Smart City» the following is highlighted: introduction of networks of generation 5G, continuous coverage of territories and access to the internet in difficult of access places, trouble-free simultaneous work in the network of enormous number of devices. A collaboration and partnership with European societies and organizations help the Ukrainian cities in their integrated development. The theoretical and methodological basis of the study has become the scientific works of Ukrainian and foreign authors on integrated urban development based on European experience and guidelines and provisions of the European Union.

scholarly journals From a Comprehensive Pool to a Project-Specific List of Key Performance Indicators for Monitoring the Positive Energy Transition of Smart Cities—An Experience-Based Approach

Smart Cities ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 705-735
Author(s):  
Komninos Angelakoglou ◽  
Konstantinos Kourtzanidis ◽  
Paraskevi Giourka ◽  
Vasilis Apostolopoulos ◽  
Nikos Nikolopoulos ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Selection Procedure ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Key Performance Indicators ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Performance Framework

As cities grow rapidly and energy needs increase, shaping an effective energy transition is a top priority towards urban sustainability and smart development. This study attempts to answer three key research questions that can help city authorities, planners and interested agents simplify and increase the transparency of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) selection for smart city and communities (SCC) projects focusing on energy transition and creation of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs): Question 1: “What resources are available for extracting such KPIs?”; Question 2: “Which of those KPIs are the most suitable for assessing the energy transition of smart city projects and PED-related developments?” and Question 3: “How can a project-specific shortlist of KPIs be developed?”. Answering these questions can also serve as a major first step towards a “universal” KPI selection procedure. In line with this purpose, an experiential approach is presented, capitalizing on knowledge and lessons learned from an ongoing smart city project in Europe (POCITYF) that focuses on PED deployment. Under this framework, a) a review of smart city KPI frameworks has been conducted, resulting in a pool of 258 indicators that can potentially be adopted by smart city projects; b) eight key dimensions of evaluations were extracted, setting a holistic performance framework relevant to SCCs; c) a detailed evaluation process including pre-determined criteria and city-needs feedback was applied to shortlist the KPI pool, leading to a ready-to-be-used, project-specific list of 63 KPIs and d) KPIs were sorted and analyzed in different granularity levels to further facilitate the monitoring procedure. The experiential procedure presented in this study can be easily adapted to the needs of every smart city project, serving as a recommendation guide.

scholarly journals Smart Energy Transition: An Evaluation of Cities in South Korea

Informatics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yirang Lim ◽  
Jurian Edelenbos ◽  
Alberto Gianoli
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
City Development ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Second Wave

One positive impact of smart cities is reducing energy consumption and CO2 emission through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Energy transition pursues systematic changes to the low-carbon society, and it can benefit from technological and institutional advancement in smart cities. The integration of the energy transition to smart city development has not been thoroughly studied yet. The purpose of this study is to find empirical evidence of smart cities’ contributions to energy transition. The hypothesis is that there is a significant difference between smart and non-smart cities in the performance of energy transition. The Smart Energy Transition Index is introduced. Index is useful to summarize the smart city component’s contribution to energy transition and to enable comparison among cities. The cities in South Korea are divided into three groups: (1) first-wave smart cities that focus on smart transportation and security services; (2) second-wave smart cities that provide comprehensive urban services; and (3) non-smart cities. The results showed that second-wave smart cities scored higher than first-wave and non-smart cities, and there is a statistically significant difference among city groups. This confirms the hypothesis of this paper that smart city development can contribute to the energy transition.

Determinants and barriers of PV self-consumption in Spain from the perception of the installers for the promotion of distributed energy systems

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-169
Author(s):  
José Ángel Gimeno ◽  
Eva Llera Sastresa ◽  
Sabina Scarpellini
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Distributed Energy ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Transition Scenario

Currently, self-consumption and distributed energy facilities are considered as viable and sustainable solutions in the energy transition scenario within the European Union. In a low carbon society, the exploitation of renewables for self-consumption is closely tied to the energy market at the territorial level, in search of a compromise between competitiveness and the sustainable exploitation of resources. Investments in these facilities are highly sensitive to the existence of favourable conditions at the territorial level, and the energy policies adopted in the European Union have contributed positively to the distributed renewables development and the reduction of their costs in the last decade. However, the number of the installed facilities is uneven in the European Countries and those factors that are more determinant for the investments in self-consumption are still under investigation. In this scenario, this paper presents the main results obtained through the analysis of the determinants in self-consumption investments from a case study in Spain, where the penetration of this type of facilities is being less relevant than in other countries. As a novelty of this study, the main influential drivers and barriers in self-consumption are classified and analysed from the installers' perspective. On the basis of the information obtained from the installers involved in the installation of these facilities, incentives and barriers are analysed within the existing legal framework and the potential specific lines of the promotion for the effective deployment of self-consumption in an energy transition scenario.

Almanya’da aşırı sağ hareketler ve medyanın suçlu göçmen söyleminin resmi belgeler ışığında incelenmesi

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-226
Author(s):  
Soner Tauscher
Keyword(s):  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
German Society ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Media Discourse ◽  
Open Door ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Open Door Policy ◽  
Far Right

Avrupa ülkelerinin alışık olduğu düzenli işçi göçü ve kontrollü sığınmacı alımı Suriye iç savaşının üst düzeye ulaştığı 2013/2014 yılından itibaren önemli bir değişim göstermektedir. Avrupa Birliği, kuruluşundan bu yana en yoğun mülteci göçüyle karşılaşmaktadır. Yaşanan bu kontrolsüz ve zorunlu göçe Avrupa toplumları ve devletleri hazırlıksız yakalanmıştır. Mülteci krizini ekonomik olarak fırsata çevirmek isteyen Almanya ise göçmenler için 2015 yazından itibaren açık kapı politikası uygulamaya başlamıştır. Ancak uygulanan açık kapı politikası Alman toplumunun azımsanmayacak bir kesiminde mültecilere ve Müslümanlara yönelik ağır ve şiddetli bir karşı kampanya ortaya çıkardı. Mülteciler ve Müslümanlar aşırı sağ toplumsal hareketlerin gösterilerinde “tecavüzcü”, “işgalci”, “kriminal dolandırıcılar” vb. sıfatlar ile birlikte anılmakta, medya da bu söylemlerin taşıyıcılığını yaparak kamusallaşmasını sağlamaktadır. Böylece aşırı sağı desteklemeyen, apolitik, ya da sığınmacılara karşı hoşgörülü davranan toplum kesimlerinde kamuoyu oluşturularak sığınmacı ve göçmenlere karşı olumsuz algı gündemde tutulmakta, politik olanın merkezine yerleştirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada öncelikle göçmenlere karşı aşırı sağ toplumsal hareketlerin oluşturduğu olumsuz söylemin McCombs ve Shaw’un Gündem Belirleme Kuramı (Agenda Setting Function) bağlamında medya tarafından siyasetin merkezine nasıl oturtulduğu tartışılacaktır. Ayrıca gündemde tutulan mültecilere yönelik olumsuz söylemin gerçeği yansıtıp yansıtmadığı, göçmenlerin ve sığınmacıların biyolojik Almanlardan daha çok suça meyilli olup olmadığı oluşturulan soyut söylemlerden ziyade Almanya İçişleri Bakanlığı’nın yıllık olarak yayınladığı Emniyet Suç İstatistikleri temel alınarak incelenecektir.ABSTRACT IN ENGLISHFar right movements in Germany and evaluation of media discourse of criminal immigrant in the light of official documentsFlows of regular worker migration and regular asylum seekers, of whom European countries are familiar, have significantly changed since 2013/2014 when the civil war of Syria reached its peak. The European Union face probably the most intensive refugee migration since its establishment. European societies and states have not been prepared for this uncontrolled and compulsory immigration. Germany seem to want to turn the refugee crisis into an economic opportunity as evident in their open door policy since the summer of 2015. However, implementation of open-door policy has led a substantial part of German society to a strong campaign against the refugees and Muslims. Refugees and Muslims are referred to as “rapists”, “invaders”, “criminal fraudsters”, and so on in demonstrations of far right movements and media has helped disseminating these discourses. Hence, this manipulated and hateful discourse tries to gain support from the segment of society wh normally does not support far right and often apolitical, or tolerant towards asylum seekers. In this study, the ways in which the negative discourse of far right social movements against immigrants is brought to the centre of the political agenda by media is analysed using the agenda setting framework by McCombs and Shaw. Then, the claims that immigrants are involved in crime, or they are prone to be criminals are analysed and contrasted with the data obtained from the annual Crime and Safety Reports of the German Ministry of the Interior.

scholarly journals Challenges and Barriers for Net‐Zero/Positive Energy Buildings and Districts—Empirical Evidence from the Smart City Project SPARCS

Buildings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Daria Uspenskaia ◽  
Karl Specht ◽  
Hendrik Kondziella ◽  
Thomas Bruckner
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Positive Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Multidimensional Representation

Without decarbonizing cities energy and climate objectives cannot be achieved as cities account for approximately two thirds of energy consumption and emissions. This goal of decarbonizing cities has to be facilitated by promoting net-zero/positive energy buildings and districts and replicating them, driving cities towards sustainability goals. Many projects in smart cities demonstrate novel and groundbreaking low-carbon solutions in demonstration and lighthouse projects. However, as the historical, geographic, political, social and economic context of urban areas vary greatly, it is not always easy to repeat the solution in another city or even district. It is therefore important to look for the opportunities to scale up or repeat successful pilots. The purpose of this paper is to explore common trends in technologies and replication strategies for positive energy buildings or districts in smart city projects, based on the practical experience from a case study in Leipzig—one of the lighthouse cities in the project SPARCS. One of the key findings the paper has proven is the necessity of a profound replication modelling to deepen the understanding of upscaling processes. Three models analyzed in this article are able to provide a multidimensional representation of the solution to be replicated.

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling in the European Union: a behavioural, legal and political analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Vincent DELHOMME
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Dietary Habits ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Present Contribution ◽  
Eu Member States ◽  
Nutrition Labelling ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Legislative Proposal ◽  
The Eu

Amidst a growing interest from European Union (EU) Member States, the European Commission recently announced that it would put forward a legislative proposal for the adoption of a harmonised and mandatory front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme at the EU level. The present contribution discusses the implications of such an adoption, taking a behavioural, legal and policy angle. It introduces first the concept of front-of-pack nutrition labelling and the existing evidence regarding its effects on consumer behaviour and dietary habits. It then presents the legal framework currently applicable to (front-of-pack) nutrition labelling in the EU and discusses some of the main political and practical aspects involved with the development of a common EU front-of-pack label.

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