Sustainable Cities: A Reflection on Potentialities and Limits based on Existing Eco-Districts in Europe

Marta Bottero, Caterina Caprioli, Giancarlo Cotella and Marco Santangelo
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Marta Bottero: Politecnico di Torino, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, Italy
Caterina Caprioli: Politecnico di Torino, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, Italy
Giancarlo Cotella: Politecnico di Torino, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, Italy
Marco Santangelo: Politecnico di Torino, Interuniversity Department of Regional and Urban Studies and Planning (DIST), Viale Mattioli 39, 10125 Torino, Italy

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-22

Abstract: 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, such as smart city, eco-city, sustainable neighborhood, eco-district, etc. While these terms are fascinating and visionary, they often lack a clear definition both in terms of theoretical insight and empirical evidence. In this light, this contribution aims at defining a conceptual framework through which to further substantiate the blurred concept of eco-district and sustainable neighborhood. It does so by reviewing the concepts of smart urbanism and sustainable neighborhood/eco-districts in the literature, including also references to other well-known sustainability-oriented models of urban development. It then explores whether several indicators, emerging from the analysis of exemplary case studies of sustainable neighborhoods in Europe, can be used to clearly identify the characteristics of a sustainable approach at the district scale. The analysis, built on a review of existing literature, allows for both the clarification of several issues related to these fields of inquiry, as well as for the identification of the potential bridges to link these issues.

Keywords: smart urbanism; sustainable neighborhood; eco-district; indicators; urban design energy transition; post-carbon cities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

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