Towards urban energy transition

Abstract

The subject of this graduation project is the energy transition within urban environments. This is pursued through, firstly, gaining an understanding of the fossil dependency and how this has affected our cities and practices. In order to overturn this effect and open the way for the urban energy transition, urban design needs to become more responsive to the climate in terms of buildings’ energy use and to incorporate renewable energy technologies. In this direction climate-responsive and energy-active urban design is introduced as part of sustainable urban design, and the steps taken in the project contribute in its implementation within existing residential areas, and more specifically dutch post-war neighbourhoods. Because apart from facilitating the urban energy transition there is a need to sustain the rapidly growing urbanization rates in a different way than the one followed in the post-war era. The illusion of free space is no longer in place and densification needs to take place first and foremost in post-war neighbourhoods. Their open space and inherent unsustainability makes them an ideal case for climate-responsive and energy-active urban design to be applied. Therefore the knowledge gathered in this project in order to review the practice of urban design is combined with the morphological qualities of post-war neighbourhoods to provide with design solutions that act on three levels: lowering energy use, generating energy locally and offering the potential for densification. In the end the steps taken are combined in a design method that can contribute in developing climate-responsive and energy-active urban design.