Integrating the urban planning process into energy systems models for future urban heating system planning: A participatory approach

Journal article, 2021

For local governments and municipalities, both urban and energy planning are required to make the transition to more energy efficient cities with lower carbon emissions. However, energy planning and urban planning are usually under the responsibility of different departments and have their own planning processes. When dealing with energy plans, this separation could lead to a less effective impact on cities in reaching climate goals since a lack of coordination may result in different strategies set out by the two plans. In consideration of the fact that space heating dominates the energy use in buildings, this study has a focus on urban heating systems in the building sector. We propose an integrative municipal heat planning methodology investigating which features of the urban planning process that could be integrated into a spatially explicit energy systems model and how. The proposed methodology is then applied to a specific case: the heating system in the municipality of Lyngby-Taarbaek, Denmark. The inclusion of stakeholders from both the heat and urban planning departments in the case study enabled us to reflect on their preferences and expectations for the future heating system. Finally, the applicability of the methodology and the application results are discussed and compared to other methods.