Modeling, Monitoring, and Evaluation for Urban Energy Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The transformation of urban energy systems is central to achieving climate neutrality, resilience, and sustainable urban development. Cities are complex multi-sectoral systems where energy systems interact with buildings, mobility, industry, digital infrastructures, and human behaviour. This Special Issue of Energies will focus on advanced approaches to modelling, monitoring, and evaluation (MME) that support evidence-based planning, operation, and governance of urban energy systems at city and district scales.

We invite high-quality contributions that address methodological innovations, applied research, and real-world demonstrations of MME frameworks for cities, districts, and neighbourhoods. Emphasis will be placed on integrated and interoperable approaches that link simulation models, monitoring infrastructures, digital twins, and performance evaluation to support decision-making under uncertainty.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Urban- and district-scale energy system modelling (multi-energy, multi-sector, multi-scale);
• Monitoring infrastructures, data pipelines, and interoperability for urban energy systems;
• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), evaluation frameworks, and impact assessments;
• Digital twins and scenario-based analyses for urban energy planning and operation;
• Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) and climate-neutral city strategies;
• Integration of renewable energy, flexibility, storage, and demand-side measures;
• Socio-economic, governance, and policy dimensions linked to MME frameworks;
• Replication, scalability, and transferability of MME solutions across cities.

The Special Issue aims to bridge the gap between research and practice by showcasing approaches that are scientifically robust, reproducible, and applicable in real urban contexts. By bringing together contributions from academia, industry, and municipalities, this Special Issue seeks to advance the state of the art in urban energy system analysis and support cities in achieving climate-neutral and resilient futures. Contributions that demonstrate how MME frameworks can support decision-making under uncertainty, enable cross-sector integration, and enhance the scalability of solutions are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Ali Hainoun
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.