Green Thoughts, Green Futures: Planning for Energy Efficient Cities

More than 50% of all people globally are living in cities today. Enhancing the sustainability and efficiency of urban energy systems isthus of high priority for global sustainable development. A transition towards Energy Smart Cities calls for technological, innovative, behavioural and structural capacities – in other words a holistic approach to city planning.For this reason, the PLEEC project – "Planning for Energy Efficient Cities" – funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme has applied an integrative approach to achieve the sustainable, energy-efficient, smart city. By coordinating strategies and combining best practices, PLEEC has developed a general model for energy efficiency and sustainable city planning. By connecting scientific excellence and innovative enterprises in the energy sector with ambitious and well‐organized cities, the project aimed to reduce energy use in Europe in the near future and will therefore be an important tool contributing to the EU's 20‐20‐20 targets.The main project outcomes were individual Energy Efficiency Action Plans for the six “PLEEC cities” on how to improve their energy efficiency in a strategic and holistic way. In order to make this knowledge available to further European cities the project developed a general model on energy efficiency and sustainable urban planning – accessible through an online model website.OLD Urban and Regional Developmen