Sustainable Integrated Planning of Positive Energy Districts

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable Integrated Planning for Positive Energy Districts requires earlier involvement of stakeholders, different approaches to planning processes, and open innovation. Currently, the participation of actors within the early planning phases is unclear, and sometimes ideas developed early are lost during the long timelines of planning processes [1,2]. Europe has made significant progress in building level innovations and is now stepping up efforts with the concept of Positive Energy Districts (PED). The technical definition of PED is an urban neighborhood with annual net zero energy import and net zero CO₂ emissions working towards a surplus production of renewable energy, integrated in an urban and regional energy system [3]; however, developing PED involves engagement with local communities, governance structures, and industries. Collaboration and participation processes are challenged by the requirement for knowledge integration of diverse practice perspectives of what is the priority in a city [1,4]. Short-sighted hierarchal agendas prohibit the incorporation of renewables in urban planning, and in addition, not all stakeholders view sustainability with equal importance [5,6]. The “Quadruple Helix” features government, academia, industry, and civil society as key actors promoting a democratic approach with socially accountable decision-making alongside the exploitation of disruptive technologies leading to open innovation 2.0 [7]. Time is also influential on what decisions are carried forward from early planning processes to implementation [4], as intermediaries for knowledge continuation are obscured amongst accessible stakeholders who are present in the different phases of decision-making [1,2]. The Special Issue aims to contribute to sustainable planning by examining open innovation, roles of key actors, knowledge continuation, processes and phases of planning to implementation that enables the potential for Positive Energy Districts. Within this Special Issue we focus on 3 key interlinked themes:

Collaborative governance for open innovation:

• Identification of public-private partnerships which enable value creation in complex urban environments
• Actor understanding and meaning of coordination and cooperation in “collaborative governance” structures that move towards Positive Energy Districts
• Influencing factors that lead to collaborative governance

Temporal impact of knowledge continuation from early planning processes to implementation

• Impact of diverse (and often new) actors/practices understanding of ideas for PEDs from planning to implementation
• Key stakeholders who ensure knowledge continuation from one phase to the next and the impact of forgotten knowledge
• Types of participation processes and methodologies enabling future users of districts to participate in integrated (energy) planning for PEDs

Participatory processes for engaging diverse stakeholder interests

• Scope for facilitation of a permanent participation processes in urban development on district level
• Motivation and incentives of participation processes – for organizations, society, and individual stakeholders

References:

1. Lindkvist, C.; Juhasz-Nagy, E.; Nielsen, B.F.; Neumann, H.-M.; Lobaccaro, G.; Wyckmans, A. Intermediaries for knowledge transfer in integrated energy planning of urban districts. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 2019, 142, 354–363.
2. Gohari, S.; Baer, D.; Nielsen, B. F.; Gilcher, E.; Situmorang, W. Z. Prevailing Approaches and Practices of Citizen Participation in Smart City Projects: Lessons from Trondheim, Norway. Infrastructures 2020, 5, 36.
3. Available online: https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/ped/ (accessed on 7 July 2020).
4. Nielsen, B. F.; Baer, D.; Lindkvist, C. M. Identifying and supporting exploratory and exploitative models of innovation in municipal urban planning; key challenges from seven Norwegian energy ambitious neighborhood pilots. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 2019, 142, 142–153.
5. Dixon, T.; Eames, M.; Britnell, J.; Watson, G.B.; Hunt, M. Urban retrofitting: identifying disruptive and sustain technologies using performative and foresight techniques. Technol. Forecast. Soc. Chang. 2014, 89, 131–144.
6. Mirakyan, A.; De Guio, R. Modelling and uncertainties in integrated energy planning. Renew. Sust. Energ. Rev. 2015, 46, 62–69.
7. Curley, M. and Salmelin, B. Open Innovation 2.0: The New Mode of Digital Innovation for Prosperity and Sustainability; Springer: Berlin, Germany, 2018.

Dr. Carmel Margaret Lindkvist
Prof. Dr. Annemie Wyckmans
Dr. Savis Gohari Krangsås
Dr. Daniela Baer
Guest Editors

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• Open Innovation
• Knowledge Transfer
• Participatory approaches
• Governance
• Integrated Planning
• Positive Energy Districts