As modern society increasingly emphasizes quality of life, historic districts face the challenge of balancing the preservation of traditional culture with the integration of urban development. Many historic districts today struggle with low vitality...
The need for more sustainable cities has become a primary objective of urban strategies. The urgency for a radical transition towards sustainability in a long term-vision has brought with it several new concepts, such as smart urbanism, and models, s...
This paper explores the sustainable development of historic and cultural districts based on the case study of the Shichahai District in Beijing, China. By using the space syntax method, this paper traces the changing street texture of the Shichahai D...
The article aims to analyze whether a larger diffusion of institutional–private co-operation in farming systems, such as Italian food districts (FDs), is helpful in pursuing goals of sustainable land use in agriculture. The paper focuses on the...
Interventions targeted at district-level are a potentially effective way to reduce consumption-based urban impacts; however, a systematic method for accounting these impacts at district scale has not yet been developed. This article outlines a method...
This study presents a novel framework for city-level energy planning and retrofitting, tailored to Danish cities and neighborhoods. The framework addresses the challenges of large-scale urban energy modeling by integrating automated processes for dat...
Recent scholarship highlights growing interest in the relationship between cultural heritage and sustainable development. However, existing research predominantly focuses on pluralistic governance systems in the West, which limits applicability in au...
Excellent previous case studies of innovation districts have provided a foundation for the integration of innovation and urban development. However, few researchers have evaluated the potential for developing innovation districts in inner city spaces...
Historic districts have become a significant aspect of urban diversity and sustainable development, due to their dual attributes of cultural heritage and living community. This study aims to assess the influence of conservation efforts on the sustain...
The application of artificial intelligence (AI) to dynamic mobility management can support the achievement of efficiency and sustainability goals. AI can help to model alternative mobility system scenarios in real time (by processing big data from he...
This article discusses the prospects for the development of sustainable tourism as an element of the network system in Okinsky District, Republic of Buryatia, RF. Before COVID-19-related restrictions, the number of tourists in this area increased ann...
During the last decade, increasing attention has been paid to the emerging concept of Positive Energy Districts (PED) with the aim of pushing the transition to clean energy, but further research efforts are needed to identify design approaches optimi...
Sustainable rural drinking water is a widespread aim in India, and globally, from the household to district, state, and national scales. Sustainability issues in the rural drinking water sector range from increasing water demand to declining groundwa...
Innovation districts, as a particular place for knowledge-based urban development strategies, have been praised for promoting sustainable economic developments. They have, however, been criticized for contributing to gentrification, urban inequality,...
Rising urban populations, limited natural resources (following the German Federal Environmental Agency, natural resources are resources that are part of nature. They include renewable and non-renewable primary raw materials, physical spaces (surface...
This paper explores the concept of social sustainability in Ulaanbaatar’s ger districts in relation to access and mobility. Although ger districts are well-established in Mongolian culture as ephemeral encampments with transient residents, contempora...
This study focuses on tourist-oriented urban historic districts. In recent years, many such districts have experienced commercial intensification and homogenization, placing pressure on sustainable development. The prior work is largely descriptive a...
Historic districts possess significant cultural value, yet visitors with disabilities, particularly wheelchair users, often encounter substantial barriers to physical access. Previous studies have highlighted a gap in the assessment of walking routes...
Based on a fixed-point survey of spontaneous space in the Tanhualin area of Wuhan, China, spontaneous space samples were obtained. The spatial typology method was used to summarize and compare the morphological and functional characteristics of the s...
To achieve the ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets set by the Sustainable Development Goals, it is crucial to act on cities. Indeed, cities are responsible for 67% of the world’s primary energy consumption and about 70% of energy-related C...
Historic districts should be sustainably developed by preserving historic architectural landscapes and developing tourism. Researchers have found that attachment to a place positively influences pro-tourism and pro-environment behaviors among tourist...
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) provide an integrated framework of targets and indicators, including the elimination of stunting, to support better development planning. Indonesia faces a significant challenge as it ranks fourth globally in...
The formation of surface urban heat islands (SUHIs) can cause significant adverse impacts on the quality of living in urban areas. Monitoring the spatial patterns and trajectories of UHI formations could be helpful to urban planners in crafting appro...
Three-dimensional (3D) information technology has become an important technical support in digital heritage preservation practice. However, due to the lack of systematic quantitative research, it is difficult to form a comprehensive understanding of...
The suburban territories of large cities are transitional zones where intensive transformations in land use are constantly taking place. Therefore, the presented work is devoted to an integrated assessment of land use changes in the Shortandy distric...
The sustainability of energy systems is increasingly assessed for development of more resilient, greener district heating (DH) systems. That requires compiling technological, environmental, and economic indicators in a social, political, and institut...
1 December 2025
Urban neighborhoods experiencing socio-spatial pressures increasingly struggle with sustainability, especially in contexts where top-down redevelopment models dominate. In Turkey, the commonly used “demolish-and-rebuild” approach is often...
A review of current and future district cooling (DC) technologies, operational, economic, and environmental aspects, and analysis and optimization methodologies is presented, focusing on the demands of cooling-dominated regions. Sustainable energy so...
The Vhembe district of South Africa is dominantly rural, with agricultural practice being the main major livelihood activity. Furthermore, many of the rural subsistence farmers rely on rain-fed agriculture, making them highly vulnerable to climate ch...
This paper presents a novel evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of city transformation projects related to energy efficiency and sustainable mobility actions. The evaluation framework is part of an Urban Regeneration Model designed to ac...
This paper investigates the heat transfer properties of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in a corrugated plate heat exchanger and explores its application in cold energy recovery for enhanced energy efficiency. The study aims to integrate this technology...
This study explores the role of Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) in promoting sustainable urban development. PEDs, defined as urban areas that achieve net-zero energy import and CO2 emissions while producing a surplus of renewable energy, have gained...
Creative and innovation districts are focused on boosting local economies. However, they also pay attention to the global scale since this local identity of the Orange Economies gives them added value and competitiveness globally, as well as internat...
A main challenge for the design and building of green and smart cities is the redevelopment of existing built environments. This research investigates the usefulness of urban district sustainability evaluation systems in informing and guiding urban r...
Although district heating is an energy-effective solution for cold countries, the coal-fired district heating sector is still facing significant challenges as regards sustainable development, during its operational stage. In order to achieve better o...
Achieving future energy objectives and promoting social, economic, and environmental sustainability can be inspired by heritage and historic structures, which make up a sizeable component of the existing building industry. Heritage architecture and u...
Enhancing contractual construction project documents with sustainability and green building requirements reflects growing concerns for the majority of organizations in hot zone districts. The aim is to provide a healthy, best functional performance,...
This Special Issue of Energies “Smart Cities and Positive Energy Districts: Urban Perspectives in 2020” introduce contemporary research on Smart Cities and on Positive Energy Districts. The topic highlights the variety of research within this field:...
Urban designs that consider regional climatic conditions are one of the most important approaches for developing sustainable cities. In cities that suffer from heavy snow and cold winds in winter, an urban design approach different than that used for...
The rapid growth of cities significantly impacts the development of transport and logistics infrastructure (TLI), creating substantial challenges for the transport network and quality of life. To enhance the efficiency and sustainability of TLI, vari...
This article provides the state-of-the-art on the optimal planning and design of future district heating (DH) systems. The purpose is to provide practical information of first-step actions for countries with a low DH market share for heating and cool...
This contribution demonstrates how more human-centered measurements for sustainable urban planning can be created by enlarging the traditional set of urban sustainability indicators. In many municipal reports, sustainable indicators concentrate on en...
This study introduces an innovative methodology for designing sustainable urban energy districts using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The scope is to identify specific parts of the urban fabric, suitable for becoming energy districts that can...
Developing the economic welfare of smallholder dairy farmers is an important strategy for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in regions such as Pujon District, a major dairy producer in the Malang Regency. Enhancing the economic stabi...
Districts can be considered as a system of complex interconnections, interactions, relationships and flows. Therefore, a comprehensive approach is essential for effective decision-making with regards to energy efficiency improvement. When addressing...
Investigations on exergy resources are important from the point of energy sustainability. In the presented study, an energy and exergy analysis of the operating biomass and natural gas boilers at the University of Idaho (UI) district energy plant is...
This study aimed to establish a comprehensive and sustainable approach to the conservation of historical districts through the “Cultural Landscape Security Pattern” (CLSP) theory. Deploying this theory can penetrate limitations posed by p...
The increasing demand for decarbonized urban environments has intensified interest in integrating renewable energy systems within cities. This review investigates the potential of urban wind energy as a promising technology in the development of Posi...
Sustainability is often explained through three dimensions (society, economy and environment). However, such a definition currently appears to be restricted. Sustainable development often includes the energy issue. An example of realities founded on...
Historical and cultural blocks in Chinese historic districts are important components of sustainable heritage tourism. In towns along the Grand Canal, historical and cultural blocks are generally integrated with modern commerce, forming a complex spa...
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