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Urban Structure, Energy and Planning: Findings from Three Cities in Sweden, Finland and Estonia

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  • Juliane Große

    (Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Christian Fertner

    (Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

  • Niels Boje Groth

    (Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, Denmark)

Abstract

Transforming energy use in cities to address the threats of climate change and resource scarcity is a major challenge in urban development. This study takes stock of the state of energy in urban policy and planning and reveals potentials of and constraints to energy-efficient urban development. The relationship between energy and urban structure provides a framework for discussing the role of urban planning to increase energy efficiency in cities by means of three in-depth case studies of medium-sized cities in Northern Europe: Eskilstuna in Sweden, Turku in Finland and Tartu in Estonia. In some ways these cities go ahead when it comes to their national climate and energy policies and aim to establish urban planning as an instrument to regulate and influence the city’s transition in a sustainable way. At the same time, the cities are constantly facing goal conflicts and limitations to their scope of action, which creates dilemmas in their strategic orientation and planning activities (e.g. regional enlargement and increased commuting vs. compact urban development). Finally, considering urban form and spatial structure along with the policy context as well as regional drivers and functional relations is suggested as a suitable approach for addressing the challenges of energy-efficient urban development.

Suggested Citation

  • Juliane Große & Christian Fertner & Niels Boje Groth, 2016. "Urban Structure, Energy and Planning: Findings from Three Cities in Sweden, Finland and Estonia," Urban Planning, Cogitatio Press, vol. 1(1), pages 24-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:cog:urbpla:v:1:y:2016:i:1:p:24-40
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Große, Juliane & Fertner, Christian, 2022. "Compensating for compactness? Consumption and leisure travel of city dwellers vs. small town dwellers in Denmark," Arbeitsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Stefansky, Andreas & Göb, Angelina (ed.), "All change please!": Challenges and opportunities of the energy transition, volume 32, pages 26-35, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    2. Große, Juliane & Fertner, Christian, 2018. "Compensating for compactness? Consumption and leisure travel of city dwellers vs. small town dwellers in Denmark," Arbeitsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Stefansky, Andreas & Göb, Angelina (ed.), "Bitte wenden Sie!" - Herausforderungen und Chancen der Energiewende, volume 22, pages 29-38, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    3. Ehsan Ahmadian & Chris Bingham & Amira Elnokaly & Behzad Sodagar & Ivan Verhaert, 2022. "Impact of Climate Change and Technological Innovation on the Energy Performance and Built form of Future Cities," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-22, November.
    4. Vincent Wretling & Berit Balfors, 2021. "Building Institutional Capacity to Plan for Climate Neutrality: The Role of Local Co-Operation and Inter-Municipal Networks at the Regional Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-19, February.
    5. Sesil Koutra & Claire Pagnoule & Nikolaos-Fivos Galatoulas & Ali Bagheri & Thomas Waroux & Vincent Becue & Christos S. Ioakimidis, 2019. "The Zero-Energy Idea in Districts: Application of a Methodological Approach to a Case Study of Epinlieu (Mons)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-27, September.
    6. Stefansky, Andreas & Göb, Angelina (ed.), 2018. ""Bitte wenden Sie!" - Herausforderungen und Chancen der Energiewende [“Please make the transition!” - Challenges to and opportunities for the energy transition]," Arbeitsberichte der ARL, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft, volume 22, number 22, January.
    7. Paolo De Pascali & Annamaria Bagaini, 2018. "Energy Transition and Urban Planning for Local Development. A Critical Review of the Evolution of Integrated Spatial and Energy Planning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-21, December.

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