Energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning

• mandatory planning requirements to investors in terms of building form and orientation, siting and microclimate, integration of low carbon energy supply, and construction of low energy buildings;
• developing long-term municipal and district heat plans along with guidelines for the future heat and possibly cold supply in order to co-ordinate activities related to energy-efficient building refurbishment, which will free up heat line capacity but reduce CHP potential, to construction of new buildings and to heat supply; 
• determining priority areas for local/district heating and possible cooling;
• taking into account energy efficient refurbishment when developing urban districts;
• reducing the distances of buildings and specific infrastructures to reduce transport needs and energy use;

identifying and encouraging the formation of mutually beneficial local energy partnerships (Ho 2006).

Worldwide implementation status
It has already been implemented in many countries around the world. In Germany, the city of Münster, the Kronsberg district of Hannover, and the Vauban district of Freiburg, all set good examples for energy-efficiency and urban and district planning (von Knorre/ Medven 2009). In China, for example, In Wuxi Taihu New City district, developers should agree on the requirements of energy-saving, resource-saving, green roof area of buildings to be constructed in certain land areas specified by the planning authority in order to obtain the land.

Governance level
Including energy-efficiency consideration in spatial planning and urban district planning can be adopted at national, regional, and local level.

• Site
• Building Form
• Building envelope
• Building integrated renewable energy system

If legally possible at the local level, it could also target the construction of low energy buildings, with higher energy efficiency requirements than the existing legal minimum energy performance standards or some minimum requirements where such legal standards do not exist.

Related target groups

• Architect
• Construction company
• Investor
• Investor-occupier

Direct beneficiaries

• Tenant

  Users of buildings will directly benefit from this set of policies and measures, because they have reduced energy costs and increased comfort.

• User

  Users of buildings will directly benefit from this set of policies and measures, because they have reduced energy costs and increased comfort.

Indirect beneficiaries

• Governmental actor

  National, regional, and local governments indirectly benefit from urban district planning including energy efficiency consideration, because they can reach emission reduction and achieve sustainable development at a low cost.

Relevant barriers

• Knowledge and information barriers: Energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning requires a specific designing and construction that reduces primary energy consumption and thus addresses a lack of interest, motivation and knowledge towards energy-efficiency improvement by investors, architects, and construction companies.
• Lack of interest and motivation in energy efficiency-improvement: Energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning requires a specific designing and construction that reduces primary energy consumption and thus addresses a lack of interest, motivation and knowledge towards energy-efficiency improvement by investors, architects, and construction companies.

Energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning needs to be combined with the following policies or measures to ensure its effective implementation:
Provision of information: Local authority can provide target information to the public about the benefits of urban district planning integrating energy efficiency, because public participation is vital, for example, for the formation of mutually beneficial local energy partnerships (Ho 2006). Besides, sound demonstration projects showing the cost-effectiveness of integrating energy-efficient consideration to urban district planning may encourage decision-makers of other municipalities or districts to take similar actions. In addition, developers also need to be informed about the monitoring & evaluation approach employed by the local authorities, extra costs involved and benefits to be expected, funding possibilities, etc. (City of Hannover 2004).
Capacity building: Integrating energy-efficiency consideration into urban district planning can be included in the vocational and university curricula and professional training of urban planners and architects so that they become aware of and gradually improve the energy-efficiency aspect in planning.
Regulations: Issuing regulations (including penalties for non-compliance) that obligate the investors to construct buildings with certain energy efficiency level in order to obtain the land can enhance the effectiveness of the planning. A regulation from the national government to the local and if necessary also the provincial authorities will be important to mainstream the practice of energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning throughout a country.
Incentives and financing for energy efficiency investments: To successfully implement some specifications, such as integrating low carbon energy supply and constructing low energy buildings, suitable financial instruments need to be available (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).

The following pre-conditions are necessary to implement energy efficient spatial planning and urban district planning

Agencies or other actors responsible for implementation
An agency/organisation that co-ordinates policies and activities of these relevant actors should be in place. For example, the municipal/district government, its planning department, or a non-profit organisation can lead the co-ordination (City of Hannover 2004).

Funding
The integration of energy-efficiency consideration in urban district planning does not need a specific funding scheme. However, suitable financial instruments need to be available for successfully implementing some specifications, such as integrating low carbon energy supply and constructing low energy buildings (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).

• Analysing the current situation (for urban district retrofitting planning), such as analysing the socio-economic conditions and potential interest conflicts, identifying energy saving potential based on surveys of current energy supply and consumption as well as user energy consumption behaviour. 
• Involving key stakeholders in a participatory process to develop common understanding of the problem as well as joint visions, objectives, and actions for energy efficiency construction. 
• Developing a target and implementation oriented action plan and setting up a monitoring framework with appropriate indicators. 
• Organising information campaigns for those not directly involved.

Quantified target
Energy-efficient spatial planning and urban district planning can have a quantified target, for example, the percentage/absolute amount of buildings achieving specific energy saving levels, the percentage/absolute amount of energy provided by renewable energy or district heating, the amount of energy saved per year, and GHG emission reduction per year (City of Hannover 2004).

International co-operations
International co-operations that share best practices of energy-efficient urban district planning can encourage policy-makers at national, regional, and local level to take similar actions or to improve their current planning practices.

Monitoring
Both energy consumption and low carbon energy supply over time after the implementation of the urban district plan need to be monitored to evaluate primary energy savings.

Evaluation
The primary energy saving is evaluated against a baseline of primary energy consumption without integrating energy efficiency into urban district planning.
However, in case that energy consumption data before the implementation of urban planning is not available (e.g. construction of new district), computer modelling can be used to develop a reference scenario that assumes previous energy use patterns and the energy efficiency status of the buildings in the district (Hertle et al. 2003).

Relevant individual dynamics and side-effects

• Dynamic market transformation and/or innovation: Integrating energy savings in the urban district plan may increase the demand of energy efficient products and services as well as renewable energy. It will also ease the achievement of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) or even higher overall energy performance levels and may thus accelerate the dynamics of creation and revision of MEPS.
• Avoiding lost opportunities: Lost opportunities are avoided through the implementation of specifications such as energy-efficient building forms and orientation, siting and microclimate, which may not be obligated by building energy efficiency codes. In addition, the requirements on energy saving and renewable application in the urban district plan may be higher than those in the codes or regulations, which further avoids lost opportunities.
• Minimising rebound effects: Rebound effects are most likely not relevant for this type of policy, as inhabitants are unlikely to relate the siting, form and orientation of buildings with their expected energy consumption.
• Minimising snap-back effects: If the energy-efficient planning principles are applied to all future developments, there will be no snap-back effects. Once a building is constructed in an optimal site, form, or orientation in accordance with the planning requirements, there can be no snapback effects for this building anyway.
• Minimising free-rider effects: Some new buildings may have an optimal siting, form, or orientation even without this policy, so these would formally create free-rider effects. However, the cost implications of these would be negligible as the costs for this type of policy are so low.
• Creating Spill-over effects: Architects, property development companies, and construction companies who have practiced energy efficiency options and renewable energy in a specific district, where energy efficiency is integrated into planning, may transfer their experiences into design and construction in other districts. Thus, integrating energy efficiency into planning enhances spill-over effects.

Design for sustainability aspects
Except for building energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment, the energy-efficient urban district plan can also be relevant for following sustainable aspects: reducing transport needs and optimising ways of transport, soil management, rainwater management, waste management, recycling existing building blocks, space saving construction, water-saving, etc.. In addition, stakeholder participation in planning processes promotes the social dimension of sustainability (City of Hannover 2004; von Knorre/ Medven 2009).

Co-benefits
Besides the primary energy savings, residents also benefit from low energy costs, short distances to specific infrastructures, and a high standard of living (e.g. due to good air quality, green areas, etc.).

• Urban district planning generally involves many actors. Their various interests can potentially result in conflicts on vision, targets, and actions. 
• Private land ownership limits the possibilities of the government for requiring the energy-efficiency specifications, such as application of higher energy standard (von Knorre/ Medven 2009). In addition, the lack of organisation of private owners makes it difficult for agreement and implementation (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• National urban policy and regulations are often absent for integrating energy efficiency into urban district planning (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• Urban district planning authorities may lack the capacity of integrated planning considering energy efficiency (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).

• Proper communication strategies need to be developed and maintained among various stakeholders (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• For example, an information campaign is necessary to inform relevant actors about the benefits of energy-efficient and low energy supply specifications in the urban district plan (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• Since private owners are not always able to or are not willing to invest in high energy-efficient standard and low carbon energy, it is important to offer incentives through public funding (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• National policies and regulations of urban plan integrating energy efficiency consideration are supportive for the planning at urban district level (B.& S.U. et al. 2011).
• To enhance the urban planners’ capacity of integrating energy-efficient consideration into urban district planning, this aspect can be included in their training programs. Besides, regional or international exchanges on best practices are also helpful.

The potentially achievable energy savings highly depends on the requirements specified in the urban district plan. However, the potentials of some specific measures can be estimated. For example, the energy consumption of a multi-storey house is 20% lower than that of 5-row houses, under the similar energy standard, given the row-houses’ lower compactness. Difference in energy gains between houses with bad orientation and an optimized orientation can be up to 15% (von Knorre/ Medven 2009).

In general, integrating energy efficient specifications, such as building form, orientation, and siting, into urban district plan has a high potential for energy savings at a low effort and cost (Burns/ Eubank 2002). On the other hand, the implementation of low carbon energy supply and the construction of low energy buildings can be costly. The costs for investors or the government vary among different countries and regions, depending on the national and local framework, such as financial supports.

Since the potential energy savings and expected costs depend on the requirements specified in urban district plans as well as national/local framework, it is difficult to generalize the expected net benefits. However, integrating energy efficient specifications into an urban district plan has a high potential for saving energy in a very cost-effective way