Just Positive Energy Planning Processes in Disadvantaged Urban Areas

In our quest for a greener world, cities play a key role. The JUST PEPP project focuses on an often-overlooked aspect: the need for inclusive decarbonisation in disadvantaged urban areas. While global initiatives like the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement push for reduced carbon emissions, vulnerable communities frequently miss out on the benefits. JUST PEPP aims to change this narrative. By centering on disadvantaged districts in Sweden, the Netherlands, and Norway, the project explores how Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) can be planned and implemented with active participation from local residents. It seeks to enhance energy efficiency and flexibility in existing buildings and urban transport systems, while paying close attention to the actual needs of the residents. The initiative is unique in its citizen-centric approach. Solutions are designed for inclusivity and well-being, intending to pilot these in the three countries involved, and eventually roll them out across Europe. Balancing environmental sustainability with social equity, JUST PEPP is a multi-disciplinary effort, drawing expertise from researchers, policymakers, non-profits, and practitioners. It's not just about reducing carbon footprints; it's also about ensuring that the journey toward sustainability leaves no one behind.

The decarbonisation of cities is critical for accomplishing the targets of both the European Green Deal and the Paris Agreement.However, recent studies highlight that political incentives for such low-carbon transitions typically exclude disadvantaged areas and/or population groups. Failure to include disadvantaged areas and their inhabitants may cause a dramatic delay in urban decarbonisation and exacerbate pre-existing societal inequalities. To tackle this failure, the Just Positive Energy Planning Processes (JUST PEPP) project aims to empower disadvantaged population groups by investigating how PEDs can be planned for, with and by residents of disadvantaged urban areas. Specifically, the JUST PEPP project will explore solutions for energy-efficiency and energy-flexibility in existing buildings and urban transport by examining four disadvantaged districts located in Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway by interacting with residents to examine their needs. Building on insights from previous projects, the project consortium will design new citizen-centric solutions geared toward well-being and inclusiveness to be piloted in the three focus countries, and, in the future, deployed across Europe to meet EU-level goals whilst balancing environmental and social concerns. To achieve this, JUST PEPP draws on expertise from a cross-disciplinary environment, encompassing researchers, local policymakers, non-profit organisations and practitioners to address these challenges.