How urban planning can reduce energy consumption – Eight Planning Principles

Considerable research efforts and academic discussions have recently focused on how Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) can be developed as stepping stones towards realizing larger political ambitions of transitioning cities into climate neutrality. To date, the research agenda on PEDs has remained rather technical and energy-oriented, focussing on how renewable energy technologies and infrastructures can be implemented at the district level to increase local energy production and flexibility of energy systems to allow more transactions on existing infrastructures. Less attention has been paid to the role of urban planning in reducing energy consumption and future energy demand that relates to urban structures. The aim of this paper is therefore to revisit conventional urban planning knowledge for how to plan sustainable cities and urban districts and draw out lessons for how planning can reduce energy consumption in support of developing PEDs. Through a literature review, we summarize the insights in eight ‘planning principles’ with the hope that these statements can travel more easily into other sub-fields of planning, including energy planning. We argue that, although the literature on the urban-energy nexus seems rather fragmented, it has a lot to offer the transition towards climate neutrality and sustainable urban futures.