Smart and Sustainable Strategies for Urban Energy Efficiency: An Integrated Framework

Abstract

Due to the overall growing trend of urbanisation, cities are primary areas of energy consumption and carbon emission and therefore highly need smart, efficient policies to sustain their existence. The chapter gives a framework consisting of five pillars: smart infrastructure and data, policy ecosystems, innovation platforms, governance coordination, and citizens' engagement. It discusses the change in the urban energy system through examples of Sweden, Germany, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and the UK. Their effects on technologies, such as AI, digital twins, edge computing, and vehicle-to-grid systems, are explored. The important values of just energy transitions are identified as equity, digital inclusion, and resilience. The chapter provides policy, budgetary and planning tips and gives future research recommendations, in behavioural science, multisector integration, and mutable governance, and they are meant to inform long-term sustainable city energy policies, particularly in rapidly expanding Global South cities.