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Smart City and Communities Roadmap

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Urban and Rural Development".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 6006

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Engineering and Applied Sciences, School of Engineering, University of Bergamo, viale Marconi, 5, 24044 Dalmine, Italy
Interests: smart home and building automation; smart city; energy; sustainable and intelligent transport; sustainable efficiency for the EU
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Power Systems, National University of Science and Technology POLITEHNICA Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Interests: smart cities; smart grids
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear colleagues,

To truly become smart, cities need an adequate set of conditions, which do not only concern technology but must necessarily be integrated with innovative forms of policies and regulations.

New governance concepts are needed to coordinate and integrate cities, businesses, and research organizations to generate a challenging process for the creation of smart and sustainable cities. The success of this challenge requires the complete and timely involvement of all government actors and not only the private sector and citizens, as it involves the management of long-term planning and short-term actions of different areas, such as transport, energy, ICT, and beyond, both in the existing urban area (retrofit) and in the new one, beyond the political cycle. It is necessary to define a new vision of strategies for smart cities or low energy consumption districts through more inclusive participatory and consultation processes and new business models, thanks to the interaction of different stakeholders. This process is structured through regulatory response, integrated planning, urban simulation models, and multi-sector energy models to show the solutions and their impacts for the sustainable development of smart cities.

The existing literature appears rich, but has the major limitation of lacking a holistic approach and, above all, an integrated application of the various human aspects. Therefore, it is necessary to re-elaborate scientific production with an open key and no longer with a sectoral approach, but always with an overall view that allows the technical realization of places, such as cities, in which the living part (humanity-environment) is at the center of strategies and application models.

How to develop a smart city strategy?

What is the integrated planning of smart city projects?

Why do cities need integrated management methods?

Which regulations can help accelerate the impact towards an urban and energy transition?

 

Keywords

  • smart cities
  • sustainability
  • governance
  • regulation
  • low energy district
  • mobility
  • prosumers behaviour

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 2861 KiB  
Article
How to Achieve Positive Energy Districts for Sustainable Cities: A Proposed Calculation Methodology
by Andrea Gabaldón Moreno, Fredy Vélez, Beril Alpagut, Patxi Hernández and Cecilia Sanz Montalvillo
Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 710; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13020710 - 13 Jan 2021
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 5405
Abstract
In this paper, a methodology for calculating the energy balance at the district level and energy performance of those districts aspiring to become a Positive Energy District (PED) is proposed. PEDs are understood as districts that achieve a positive energy balance on an [...] Read more.
In this paper, a methodology for calculating the energy balance at the district level and energy performance of those districts aspiring to become a Positive Energy District (PED) is proposed. PEDs are understood as districts that achieve a positive energy balance on an annual basis by means of exporting more energy than is consumed within their limits. The main issue to standardize the concept, besides which characteristics should be considered, is that current standards to calculate an energy balance are not applied at the district level. This paper reviews the current standards and adapts them to propose an energy balance calculation methodology. Calculation of an energy balance at the district level is complex since it includes several parameters, such as which loads (or elements) should be included, which renewable energy technologies should be considered on-site production, and which primary energy factors should be used. The proposed methodology is thought to help cities at the design stage of a district and to evaluate its annual energy balance. The methodology is performed in eight steps, and all the needed assumptions that affect the calculation of the annual energy balance are discussed in each step. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart City and Communities Roadmap)
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