The scale (district) and sectoral integration (energy, green infrastructure, waste & water management systems, mobility, etc.) values embedded in the eco-district concept, they both bring multiple co-benefits attached to the deployment of such initiatives:

Climate resilience:

Climate adaptation, enhance stability of the urban infrastructure:

Reduced risk to natural and climate hazards, heat waves and extreme climatic events, consequence of a climate-oriented design of the eco-district. The urban infrastructure is also benefited from this design approach at sectoral level (green infrastructure, water & waste management systems, electricity grid, heating & cooling distribution, etc.)."

Environment:

Environmental risks mitigation: Reduced ecological footprint: The use of energy conservation and renewable energies implemented in eco-districts, decreases the use of air conditioning and reduces the production of electricity resulting in less emissions and pollution and a decreased ecological footprint of cities.

Health & Well-being:

Healthier and more attractive lifestyles, better access to living areas, enhance attractiveness of the cities. The design approach of eco-districts, integrating the core elements of sustainability in the development of a specific neighbourhood, it upgrades the living standards of the area through an improvement of infrastructure and public space, finally triggering a change of culture in the citizens. This virtuous effect avoids deprivation of urban areas, and enhances the attractiveness of the city as a whole. From a health perspective, higher or lower indoor & outdoor temperatures, caused by inappropriate heating and cooling of buildings and inadequate design of public space (i.e.: heat-island effect), seriously affect human health and heat-related mortality and morbidity. Energy conservation and renewable energies systems implemented in energy-efficient buildings help to keep indoor temperature at proper levels and protect the health of the tenants, in the same way resilient and climate-oriented public-space design does, both contributing to less premature deaths, increase the life expectancy, decrease the risk of heat related mortality and morbidity and in general reduces the health risk from extreme heat events.

Economy:

Job Creation Labour productivity, Proximity economy, Better working conditions.

A review of the literature shows that for a similar energy output, solar energy creates 55-80 times as many direct jobs as natural gas, energy conservation measures create 26 times as many direct jobs as natural gas at about one-ninth to one-fifth of the cost. At the same time, for a similar energy output, solar heating systems create 2-8 times more direct jobs than conventional power plants. According to the European Green Deal Strategy 160 000 additional green jobs could be created in the construction sector by 2030.

Economic risks mitigation:

Energy security and Safety and Security (Reduced energy poverty, Increased access to clean, affordable, and secure energy): Use of energy conservation and of renewable energies in the development of eco-districts helps to improve energy security and safety while contributing to alleviate energy poverty. Unfortunately, no data is currently available on the impact of efficient energy buildings on energy poverty. However, the development of efficient energy buildings ‘brings many positive effects: (i) improving people’s living conditions, (ii) decarbonising the energy system, (iii) sustaining recovery and growth. These are the main objectives pursued by the recent Renovation Wave, which as the backbone of the EU Green Deal on energy efficiency in buildings, shows a focused orientation on fighting energy poverty. Among the key actions to be taken in 2021, the EU is committed to “tackling energy poverty and worst-performing buildings: launching the Affordable Housing Initiative piloting 100 renovation districts. Renovation and improvements to the energy performance of buildings would also bring multiple indirect effects, such as (i) improvement of health, due to the reduction of air pollution, and consequent reduction of healthcare costs, and (ii) boost economic activity’,

Other co-benefits relevant in the deployment of eco-districts are: resource efficiency (waste, water, land-use and even food), greater biodiversity, and social inclusion.

Governance, policy, and regulation:

Adequate framework conditions are key for a suitable deployment of an eco-district. A suitable governance model is key for the potential success of an eco-district, incorporating interests of citizens and the private sector as future users of the eco-district. Policies and city strategies must reinforce eco-distort deployments (i.e.: as elements of an action plan), contributing to the fulfilment of cities' objectives (i.e.: CO2 reduction, well-being). Regulation must be considered in early stages, as well as urban planning limitations.

Climate and geography:

Eco-districts can be implemented under all climatic conditions. The specific design should follow the main sectoral requirements (energy, mobility, green infrastructures, water & waste management, public lighting, etc.) and should be fitted to the local needs.

Upstream community work:

Eco-districts that target the already built environment, they require an agreement between inhabitants, owners, real estate companies and other stakeholders. Working with the community prior to interventions is critical, including attending to and understanding the demands of the residents both individually and as a community and being able to convey how the improvements in the renovation of buildings and public space are connected to those demands:

Hierarchize the solutions and prioritize them according to their cost and impact. Adapt solutions to the social context and its economic resources. Establish a sequence of possible interventions according to the budget of the tenants/owners who must implement them.

Get tangible results in the first actions that allow user loyalty and encourage them to continue with the process.

Specify and transmit in a clear and simple way the impact of the proposed solutions in the different areas that affect the citizen: environmental, health, economic, etc.

Funding and financing: an appropriate funding and financing scheme is crucial for such a huge investment. So far, this kind of projects are attached to national or regional funds, but they must incorporate citizens and the private sector as part of the scheme.

Lack of knowledge on the benefits and co-benefits of the eco-district approach could reduce the attractiveness of the project for residents and companies.

Lack of skills: lack of competent experts to carry out participatory processes

Lack of practice: community not accustomed to participatory processes and common decision-making.

Lack of knowledge of funding options available

Short-term thinking in financial terms can prevent developers from more suitable approaches thinking in the mid-long term

Land-use regulation that may hinder alternative/ innovative approaches (i.e.: implementing a district heating network where there is no culture of such approach).Innovation resistance

Lack of insight of future living conditions of an eco-district (tangible vision)

The development of eco-districts does not conflict with any of the DNSH principles (EU 2020/852). However, eco-districts usually require higher investments than conventional neighbourhoods, which can cause the developers to pass on the higher costs to their customers. This must be carefully supervised by local authorities in order to avoid gentrification processes.

• Eco-districts: development and evaluation. A European case study (Flurin)
• Assessing Neighborhood Livability: Evidence from LEED for Neighborhood Development and New Urbanist Communities (Szibbo)
• DGNB System for Districts
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Neighborshood Development (LEED ND)
• Breeam Communities
• HQE Aménagement (HQE A)
• STAR Communities Rating System

Emissions, energy consumption and associated costs: combining energy efficiency actions with the deployment of renewables will both reduce the energy consumption, the GHG emissions, and the operational costs of a district. 

The implementation of eco-districts instead of business-as-usual developments presents several energy and emissions related benefits:

• Decreases the absolute energy consumption during the whole year at the city scale (kWh/m2/y).
• Decreases the release of harmful pollutants from the heating and cooling systems of the buildings.
• Decreases the peak electricity demand during the year and the need to build additional power plants.
• Decreases the cost of electricity as the absolute peak demand is seriously reduced.
• Decreases the total annual operational costs per unit of energy output (EUR/MWh or EUR/MJ)
• Decreases the release of anthropogenic heat and reduces the magnitude of local overheating.
• Decreases the passenger kilometre energy intensity (MJ/pkm)

Examples of proposed indicators to measure the impacts of this solution if applied in a city:

Energy savings compared to reference buildings (% kWh/m2/y). Calculate the energy consumption before the implementation of the global energy system, A, in kWh/m2/y and the corresponding energy consumption when the full energy system is implemented, B. Then calculate the Impact Indicator as E=A-B

GHG emissions avoidance (e.g., by removing the need for energy consumption) in %CO2e. Calculate emissions corresponding to the energy consumption A and B, as above, then calculate the difference.

Educational/ Capacity building:

Trainings: Training of urban planners, architects, engineers, sociologists (...) on the optimum design and implementation of Eco-districts. Additionally, training processes for residents so that they can understand the advantages and consequences of the required solutions and make decisions based on concrete knowledge.

Informative/ Awareness raising and Citizen Engagement:

Workshops: Organisation of dedicated workshops on the design techniques and the implementation of Eco-districts from a collaborative perspective.

Consultations: Understand the concerns, needs and resources of residents in order to better address them to get a positive involvement.

Co-design: Collaboratively design the development and work on the needs and resources of residents.

Drop-in sessions: Use communal spaces for initial contact with residents and raise queries.

Local and permanent technical office: to set a dialogue with the residents, solve doubts and help with technical answers, etc.

Makerspaces to prototype tailored solutions.

Planning:

Integrated action plans: this is one of the key instruments to be used when planning eco-districts, braking silos among disciplines for an integrated approach, developing collaborative processes.

Integrated land use planning and urban space management with mobility planning

Financial/ Fiscal:

Grants/subsidies: Provide reasonable subsidies to investors on energy-efficiency, eco-mobility, and environmentally friendly waste management systems. CO2-based taxation can be considered for energy and mobility purposes.

Regulatory:

Review of land-use restrictions according to the solutions to be implemented in the district

Promote the use of energy conservation and renewable energy systems in buildings from a district perspective

Define minimum energy performance standards for existing buildings

Lifecycle emissions requirements for construction and renovation projects, products and materials

Define specific criteria to favour active mobility in the district (i.e.: bike storage in buildings)

Low-emissions zones and Urban vehicle access regulations can be considered to reduce fossil-fuels based mobility in the district.

Define specific criteria on waste management procedures to maximise circularity and reuse.

Technical:

Provision of energy efficient products and services: Set appropriate municipal targets and standards on the implementation of energy conservation and renewable energy systems in local building stock

One-stop shops as a helpful way to combine retrofitting techniques

Circular economy design principles must be included in early stages to increase the durability, reparability, upgradability and reusability of materials.

Several initiatives have addressed the development of eco-districts/ green neighbourhoods, and an evolution is perceived from earlier to last generation developments. A list of case studies and integrated guidelines for sustainable neighbourhood design is provided here below:

• Integrated Guidelines for Sustainable Neighbourhood Design - UN Environment Programme (https://www.neighbourhoodguidelines.org)
• Quality Program in Malmö, Sweeden
• Hammarby Sjöstad Green Regeneration in Stockholm, Sweeden
• Urban Regeneration, Street Patterns and nework of public spaces in King's Cross, London, UK
• Promoting Cycling in Copenhagen, Denmark
• The Zero-Energy Ecovillage in Bedzed, UK
• Ecocity of Trinitat Nova, Barcelona, Spain
• Ginko in Bordeaux, France
• Docks de Saint Ouen, France
• Hiedanranta - Smart & Sustainble City in Tampere, Finland