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Cities and governments are increasingly interested in refurbishing the existing built environment as a key component in plans to reduce GHG emissions and resource efficiency strategies. In this sense, the building industry started to develop sustainability assessment tools, first to guide new or major renovation building projects, and slowly progressing toward the evaluation of neighborhoods and cities. However, scaling up sustainability is a challenge due to the increased number of parameters and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. This paper presents a methodology to scale up LEED-ND sustainability assessment from the neighborhood towards the city scale with the support of GIS modeling. This approach was tested for the current Lisbon case study. It resulted in the identification of the priority intervention areas and parameters. The paper further highlights four policy recommendations: reduce water flood risk; increase mixed residential and non-residential developments; reinforce the adoption of energy certifications, and create similar schemes for water consumption. These findings can support decision-makers to develop urban redevelopment strategies and improve the overall city sustainability performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon has become a regional issue for Greater Kuala Lumpur (GKL) as a number of studies reported an elevated air temperature in highly dense urban areas compared to the rural peripheries. An initial literature survey of UHI studies in GKL revealed an insufficiency and paucity of field measurements for more than one decade (since 1991) before gaining its momentum again after 2004. Despite a very limited number of studies in GKL, many studies used a vague set of site classification, operational definitions of Urban Heat Island Intensity (UHII) derived from such vague classification, uncontrolled and old set of data, limited coverage of weather station network and limited number of weather parameters in data collection. Therefore, this paper attempts to provide an overview of UHI studies in GKL by highlighting the major methodological shortcomings that hamper the reliability of previous measurements and by providing vital suggestions for an improved UHI quantification in future. The findings of most of the studies disclose an increasing trend in the UHII which is associated to the reduction in vegetation cover and land use changes. Eventually, this open up new opportunities for the upcoming studies to investigate the sensitivity of UHI to other unexplored factors in the local context. Besides focusing on the role of vegetation on urban temperature reduction, future studies need to focus more on examining the feasibility of other remediation technologies. This paper also suggests that rigorous attention should be given to a systematic site characterization, controlled and synchronous measurements, broader weather station network as well as incorporation of real-time data to elucidate the current UHII status. In addition, local studies could significantly benefit from the utilization of advanced modelling and simulation technologies as a basis for a more informed decision-making in line with the aspiration of GKL to achieve a world class sustainable metropolis by 2020 (GKL Initiative under the National Key Economic Area). Lastly, the incorporation of UHI phenomena in local policies is also essential to mitigate its deleterious impacts via more urban climate-friendly practices by various stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A new specific methodology to prioritize buildings for public services is presented. • Sustainability is the basis of the Sustainable Building index (Bs). • Bs is compared with other two methodologies. • Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to establish the weight of the indicators. Abstract A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methodology is presented in this paper that is used to analyse and to assess public-service building projects for the promotion of smart sustainable cities. Its main purpose is to compare different types of projects (hospitals, schools, museums, etc.) and to prioritize the investments that present the most favourable global results. The methodology, known as MIVES, constructs a model that assists decision-making on the basis of consistent and transparent criteria. It incorporates the value function concept that attaches a value to different types of variables for the purpose of arriving at a final value in relation to pre-defined criteria. In this study, the model is based on the three basic pillars of sustainability (economy, environment, and society) presented in a triple-layer decision tree. Its application to four urban projects, presented as examples, showed encouraging results with a wide range of values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Stakeholder dialogues can help to advance a city’s work on climate change. • More interaction between workshop participants leads to wider the societal consensus building. • A diversity of stakeholder perspectives yields more acceptance for a transformative course of action. • Political competence among workshop participants is key to put decisions into operation. Abstract Climate change and other sustainability challenges represent a foundational contest to traditional urban development concepts and practices. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from urban infrastructure and leading cities towards climate resilience requires a transformation of city structures, its organisation and its resident’s lifestyles. To anchor such a transformative course of action, a wider societal consensus building with an active and earnest engagement with all relevant actors and interest groups in the city is required. With stakeholder dialogues being a suitable and proven instrument for stimulating engagement, this paper explores dynamics of stakeholder dialogues and how they can advance a city’s work on climate change. For this purpose, a number of stakeholder dialogues with key actors in the field of climate change were organised in four cities across India, Indonesia and the Philippines. Studying them, the authors identified four dimensions that seem to shape the effectiveness and success of such dialogues: the level of interaction between the participants during the events, the diversity of perspectives represented by the stakeholders, their level of capacities in dealing with urban climate issues and, ultimately their political competence that allows them to take decisions based on workshop outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For Garett Hardin and new institutional economists inspired by his work or variations of it, marketising the commons is the surest way to managing it effectively. This ‘governance by the market’, advocates argue, has a popular basis. Using original field data from Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa, this paper reaches radically different conclusions from Hardin’s. The neo-colonial marketisation of the water commons has led to a plastic waste environmental crisis. An informal economy of labourers has arisen to attempt to clean up the waste, but they work under difficult conditions. The attempt by the state to address the crises – of water, waste, and labour – through further marketisation of waste management has led to the creation of profit making opportunities for corporate waste managers and the exploitation of labour – without addressing the initial urban challenge. Indeed, the waste problem is getting worse with marketization and water subsidies for corporate monopolists, a dynamic which has created an imperative for migrant labour, women and children – in particular, to become pickers and undervalued pawns in a corporate recycling hierarchy that exists with the tacit complicity of the state. Analytically, the asocial conceptualisation of markets is creating anti-social problems against which the exploited labourers have recurrently demonstrated much like ‘the Beggars’ Strike’ in Aminata Sow Fall’s novel (1986), but such protests are rather sporadic, disparate, and disjointed and hence have not brought about a new transformation of the commons. Their success is in terms of their potential to exert pressure for the possible destruction of corporate water monopoly and state complicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The ability to manage and build urban water resilience will depend on how the city is managing and governing its water resources and services and how it is addressing the water-related shocks and stresses • There is an increasing demand for innovative tools and guidance to apply water resilience concept in practice. • With empirical evidence, the paper presents a water resilience assessment framework that includes a set of resilience indicators that will guide in building urban water resilience • Critical dimensions to build urban water resilience: infrastructure and ecosystems, health and wellbeing, planning and finance, and leadership and strategy. The resilience model is an increasingly well-established paradigm of urban planning that guides responses to water related shocks and stresses, such as floods, droughts. However, due to limited studies and guidance on how to apply the concept of water resilience in practice, there is a growing demand for innovative tools that can help urban planners make better decisions and investments for a resilient urban water system. This paper presents a governance-based water resilience planning tool called the City Water Resilience Framework (CWRF), which is designed to meet this need. CWRF enables cities to collectively assess and plan for strengthening urban water resilience. It has been co-created through research and a robust peer-review process with eight partner cities and consultation with global experts. Based on this research, different factors of resilience were identified, which informed the development of CWRF, that includes a set of resilience goals, sub-goals and indicators, categorised across four dimensions: infrastructure and ecosystems, health and wellbeing, planning and finance, and leadership and strategy. Evidence is presented from the application of CWRF in Cape Town and Greater Miami and the Beaches (GM&B), which informed the cities' key water planning and strategies by integrating water resilience factors and activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigated a smart public lighting implementation from a city business model perspective. • The Value Creation Ecosystem (VCE) and the City Model Canvas (CMC) are used to visualize the long-term public value of the solution. • Fundamental patterns and recommendations are provided to effectively scaleup the public business model. • The proposed strategy enables the transformation of lighting infrastructure into a smart, valuable, energy-efficient, and sustainable asset. • The solution makes urban areas more accessible and ensure that the city itself is safer, more modern, efficient, and attractive. Public lighting connects hundreds of millions of streetlights with access to power across the globe, being responsible for 19% of global electricity usage, 30% - 50% of a typical city's energy bill and the already exceeding levels of CO2 emissions. Consequently, this represents a priority issue for cities in their strategy towards sustainability. In this framework, the momentum for smart public lighting is growing as its implementation represent quick wins (such as increase security and safety, improve mobility, increase the attractiveness of public spaces, or improve quality of life for citizens) with a massive impact on energy savings and maintenance, and can be achieved through low-cost connectivity. This paper discusses the effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility of any city establishing a smart public lighting infrastructure network. With this aim, a pilot intervention in San Sebastian's public lighting network is presented together with a holistic analysis based on the Value Creation Ecosystem (VCE) and the City Model Canvas (CMC) to visualise how such plans may offer public value with a long-term and sustainable approach. Additionally, relevant, and fundamental patterns and recommendations are provided, which may help other public managers effectively implement this service and scale-up its use and business model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas account for 70% of carbon emissions, and are likely to be the locus of attention to reduce future emissions in developing countries. However, only a small share of Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects under the Kyoto Protocol and only 30% of public climate finance is invested in urban areas. One of the main reasons is that most urban climate change mitigation projects rather provide development than climate benefits, so the question is whether alternative mechanisms can mobilize urban mitigation projects. In this paper, we analyze a set of three case studies — representative urban waste and transportation projects in Indonesia, Kenya, Sri Lanka — to compare the market and economic value of climate and development co-benefits. For the projects, we monetize the co-benefits accruing to the local community. We find that under current market conditions, climate benefits have little effect on projects’ financial viability, and can be effectively ignored. By contrast, we find, the monetization of development co-benefits significantly improves financial viability, based on calculated net present values and internal rates of return. Our results highlight the importance of local, national and international financing and policies that monetize such development co-benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent literature on social innovation highlights its conceptual ambiguity and emphasizes how technology has contributed to the renovation of this 200 year old practice, calling for more sector-specific research. Addressing this call, this paper examines how social innovation fits in the urban sustainability discourse and in what way it empowers urban citizens and their communities towards serving their interests. The findings with respect to 29 cases of social innovation initiatives for environmental sustainability across 9 domains suggest that a large spectrum of sustainability challenges and topics are addressed by existing initiatives, which in turn can refer to different urban spatialities. For each initiative we examine the social innovation process, focusing on the types of involved organizations, the underlying innovation mechanisms as well as the use of technology. In terms of citizen empowerment, we examine the empowerment mode, the main beneficiaries of the innovation, as well as the specific outcome of the initiative. Following this analysis, we arrive to the identification and description of four primary citizen profiles in social innovation for sustainable urban development. We close by calling for further research into the perception, behavior and needs that are associated with the identified citizen profiles and their communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Factors for sustainable e-commerce development in the EU cities was indicated. • A Promethee technic for measuring the sustainability of e-commerce was applied. • An increase in online shopping in cities may affect environmental degradation. The e-commerce market in cities is currently one of the fastest-growing markets. By observing the current changes taking place in it, we have a unique opportunity to learn about its potential development directions in the future with great acceleration. Some of the recent changes caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have a chance to affect this market's development in the coming years permanently. The paper's primary purpose is to identify relationships between factors that could significantly impact sustainable e-commerce development in cities, mainly including environmental issues, on the example of the European Union Countries. For this purpose, five groups of factors (criteria), based on literature, were selected: e-commerce drivers (Internet and mobile access, macroeconomic conditions and social aspects in the country), criteria describing the e-commerce market in cities, and criteria that assess the impact of the development of the e-commerce market in cities on the environment were assessed. According to the authors' proposal, the relationships between these groups of factors were verified, taking into account the network model of connections. For this purpose, the multi-criteria decision-making method with the use of the PROMETHEE technique has been applied. The research results presented in the paper confirmed that the relations between the analyzed groups of criteria are complex. In most countries, high positions in the rankings containing criteria describing the so-called drivers of the e-commerce market also translate into high places in the order describing this market's development. At the same time, those countries where the e-commerce activity in cities is high present lower environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A comprehensive approach to sustainable city logistics of last mile delivery from stakeholders' perspectives was presented. • Seven research topics on sustainable last mile delivery on e-commerce market in cities were identified. • The need of changing consumers' expectations regarding last mile delivery on e-commerce market was identified. • Trends and further directions of the research on sustainable last mile delivery on e-commerce market were indicated. In the literature, city logistics in terms of last mile delivery on the e-commerce market is quite new area of research that is not thoroughly investigated. It can be observed that there are many papers discussing various topics from the perspective of different groups of stakeholders such as residents, governments, shippers, receivers, transport companies (CEP), and others. However, there is no holistic approach covering the presented field of research. Therefore, the paper's purpose is identification of trends in sustainable last mile delivery on e-commerce market in cities from the perspective of various stakeholders. The research method that serves the paper's purpose is systematic literature review in the above-presented field performed through traditional method and machine learning (VOSviewer). In order to conduct critical analysis of published sources, the Web of Science and Scopus databases were applied. The paper's added value is a comprehensive approach to sustainable city logistics of last mile delivery that includes all stakeholders' perspectives and the identification of trends in this area. During the critical literature analysis, authors identified the relations between stakeholders, the fields of the research, and the trends for developing sustainable last mile delivery on the e-commerce market. It should be noted, that recent articles discuss newer technological and organization solutions, such as IoT, autonomous vehicles, crowd-shipping, parcel lockers, and concentrate on the behavior analysis of e-customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of resilience in the face of large physical and climatic change has emerged as an important area of research. But while the physical variables under study are easily identified, the notion of resilience itself remains nebulous. In recent years, it has been taken to mean both mitigation and adaptation, concepts that are often used in interchangeably or in conjunction (sometimes hyphenated as “adaptation-mitigation”). But mitigation and adaptation could in fact be antithetical to one another: the first refers to the ability to carry on “business as usual” activities (R1) while the second rejects the business as usual paradigm and recognizes new realities (R2). This tension poses a special challenge to water security in cities. The case of a severe drought in Singapore, the longest in 130 years, illustrates how these conceptual difficulties create policy problems. Water security has largely been defined as R1. But in the face of large-scale climatic change events, R2, especially along the human dimensions, becomes increasingly relevant. This paper argues that people and the psychological requirements of resilience, are key components of the eco-system of a city. Resilience therefore needs to be a teleological concept that speaks to the desired ends or futures of the community in question, whether in infrastructure, or human development. This more complex but more accurate concept of resilience provides greater precision and practical guidance for urban water security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Realistic transportation, energy and food alternatives are numerically analyzed. • Business models for circular economy implementations are introduced. • The regulatory outlook for circular cities is outlined. • High-level circulation requires massive increases of production within city, which is unlikely. • Holistic and multidisciplinary analysis is needed in realizing a circular city. Circular economy plays a central role in cities on a strategical level. However, concrete circularity plans and actions remain rare. This paper examines how a city district could target circularity with transportation, energy and food solutions. The analysis is performed for an existing case district in a planning phase. The aim is to provide real concrete examples. Firstly, technological alternatives and their energy and carbon emissions are analyzed numerically. Secondly, service solutions for each technology are suggested. Thirdly, relevant regulations are framed. In the analyzed district, high-level circulation of urban streams is unlikely to occur. Almost carbon-free transportation is possible, resulting in extensive increase in local electricity demand. Locally produced biogas would contribute about 20 % of the gas demand of the most advanced transportation scenario. None of the several energy production alternatives would lead to local energy self-sufficiency. Waste heat recovery from a data center and a wastewater treatment plant could supply 58 % of the heat demand. 6 % of the food consumed could be produced locally. The paper highlights the importance of considering interlinkages between different streams and sectors, revealing the complexity of a circular city. The analysis demonstrates that circularity in this district is possible, but requires multidisciplinary analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities consume almost 80 percent of world's energy and account for 60 percent of all the emissions of carbon dioxide and significant amounts of other greenhouse gases (GHG). The ongoing rapid urbanization will further increase GHG emissions of cities. The quantification of the environmental impact generated in cities is an important step to curb the impact. In fact, quantifying the consumption activities taking place inside a city, if differentiated by socioeconomic and demographic groups, can provide important insights for sustainable-consumption policies. However, the lack of high-resolution data related to these activities makes it difficult to quantify urban GHG emissions (as well as other impacts). This paper presents a methodology that can quantify the carbon footprint of households in cities using consumption data from a national or European level, where the resource consumption is linked to socioeconomic attributes of a population. The methodology is applied to analyzing the environmental impact by household resource consumption in the city of The Hague in the Netherlands. The key insights reveal potential intervention areas regarding resource consumption categories and demographic groups that can be targeted to reduce GHG emissions due to consumption-driven activities in the city. • Demographic clustering to realize a socio-economic segmentation of the population. • Regression and data-driven models applied at district level to derive resource consumption. • Carbon emissions calculated by matching resource consumption with process-based LCI database. • Mobility, household waste and energy use account for 70% of carbon emissions in The Hague. • An estimated potential reduction of 30% carbon emissions in the mobility sector for The Hague. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is predicted that the world population will reach 9 billion by 2050, of which 70% will live in urban centres. This change, alongside a changing climate, will strain Earth's resources, especially the food supply chain. One idea that has been proposed to address this issue is vertical farming – the urban farming of fruits, vegetables, and grains, inside a building in a city or urban centre, in which floors are designed to accommodate certain crops. While an interesting theoretical concept, no studies currently exist that quantify or qualify the validity of such an idea. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to examine the feasibility and plausibility of the vertical farming concept from a socio technical, mixed methods, research perspective. This includes (1) examining how much energy is needed to power such a building and whether renewable energy can meet the onsite demands of the building by constructing a energy model, (2) quantifying the carbon footprint of vertically grown produce and subsequently comparing that to conventionally grown produce, and (3) conducting interviews to explore how relevant stakeholders perceive the concept of vertical farming in order to identify what are current barriers and opportunities exist towards possible uptake of the technology. The findings indicate that vertical farming is a tool that can be used to supply food to cities in a sustainable manner, but this depends on the location and design. Areas of future research are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Already in agricultural societies issues like the efficient use of natural resources, recycling of goods and materials, and minimization of food waste were key principles. Current circular economy initiatives are building firmly on these same principles. Often circular economy actions concentrate on material efficiency ignoring other possible flows. This paper conceptualizes circular cities by reviewing their constraints, characteristics and connections. Even a proper definition for a "circular city" is missing. After analyzing circular economy (CE) challenges and opportunities in cities, the paper concentrates on characteristics of circular city concepts, namely definition, transition process, target setting and circularity indicators. These are the core issues a city has to define when targeting circularity. In addition, the paper addresses city streams, their interlinkages and boundaries which a city has to analyze when deciding about the concrete actions and means. Adequate tools are needed in this phase to analyze circular cities. Potential Nexus and expert tools were identified in the paper. The paper ends up with a synthesis of steps cities need to take when targeting circularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The need to protect the environment from the wanton ecological destruction of unfettered economic growth and conspicuous consumption is unquestionable. What is still in question, however, is how environmental assessment methods can be used as a means to evaluate the sustainability of urban development. For while the number of environmental assessment methods available to evaluate the sustainability of urban development has increased notably over the past decade, questions still remain as to the integrative and multi-scalar nature of their evaluations. At their most basic these controversies boil down to the question: is the logic of building assessment integrative and can the method(ology) it uses be scaled-up so as to ‘up-the-ante’ and offer city-wide evaluations of sustainable urban development? This paper reports on the work the BEQUEST network has undertaken to develop such an integrative and multi-scalar assessment methodology and sets out the types of assessment methods it is possible to use in ‘upping-the-ante’ and providing such city-wide evaluations. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Electric mobility is essential to address climate change. • Electric Vehicles' (EV) consolidation needs the support of public entities. • Public charging station networks are key to promote EVs' adoption. • Public charging stations availability and accessibility improve EV users' experience. • City business models for public charging stations ensure their sustainable deployment. The unprecedented growth of global cities together with increased population mobility and a heightened concern regarding climate change and energy independence have increased interest in electric vehicles (EVs) as one means to address these challenges. The development of a public charging infrastructure network is a key element for promoting EVs, and with them reducing greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the operation of conventional cars and improving the local environment through reductions in air pollution. This paper discusses the effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility of city strategic plans for establishing a public charging infrastructure network to encourage the uptake and use of EVs. A holistic analysis based on the Value Creation Ecosystem (VCE) and the City Model Canvas (CMC) is used to visualise how such plans may offer public value with a long-term and sustainable approach. The charging infrastructure network implementation strategy of two major European cities, Nantes (France) and Hamburg (Germany), are analysed and the results indicate the need to involve a wide range of public and private stakeholders in the metropolitan areas. Additionally, relevant, and fundamental patterns and recommendations are provided, which may help other public managers effectively implement this service and scale-up its use and business model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Resilience and sustainability have synergies, but few studies test under disruption. • Fieldwork conducted in green multifamily building pre-/post-Hurricane Sandy. • Building's success not driven by its green infrastructure. • Need to redefine sustainability and resilience goals to support purposeful systems. • Systems should continue to serve end-users' purposes while in an atypical state. There is significant overlap between the goals of two urban imperatives – sustainability and resilience – and current research highlights synergies. However, few studies are able to test this assumption under disruptive conditions. This paper questions the relevance of green building features to support resilience during a disruption, relying on fieldwork conducted at a green multifamily building before and after the 2012 Hurricane Sandy. Findings indicate that the building fared well during the storm, but much of the green infrastructure was bypassed during preparations; thus, the building performed largely as a conventional building. Although green features can potentially provide redundancies or substitutes for several building services, the characteristics that fostered the successful performance of the study building during the storm – effective building management, a superior location, and residents with resources – outweighed the importance of the green infrastructure. This finding highlights the need to redefine the goals of sustainability and resilience to ensure synergies. It identifies highly trained, empowered operating staff as the key. This research posits that current views of resilience can be expanded to include purposeful systems, or a system's ability to continue to serve its end-users' specific purposes while in an atypical state, even during a shock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A universal method to measure accessibility to 'generic' services using a detailed population distribution and a transport network. • Reproduces observed service accessibility patterns with reasonable accuracy. • Model results show that cities provide better opportunities in accessing services and more potential to access services by walking and cycling. • It has been estimated that four out of five people in Europe have at least one local or daily service within 5 km. • On the other hand, based on the model results, one out of four people in Europe lack a regional or high-order service within 40 km. An important goal of land use and transport policies is improving accessibility to services. Access to services differs significantly between different territories, and regional development policies, including Cohesion Policy, are often used to improve accessibility where it is too low. Unfortunately, comprehensive data on facility locations is not available in Europe, making it difficult to evaluate, ex-ante, the direct or indirect effects of policies on service distribution and accessibility to services. This study proposes a novel approach to cope with this problem and maps generic service accessibility in Europe. First, it defines three types of generic services with different minimum number of users and characteristics: local, subregional and regional services. Next, it uses this to simulate the spatial distribution of services, and to assess probable accessibility to services across Europe. Based on the simulation results, the paper explores how per country accessibility to services differs between metro regions, and between urban and rural areas in terms of I) average distance to services and II) the share of population within a short enough distance that could be walked or cycled. It tests the proposed method by comparing actual service points with the modelled points in a selected number of countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A method to evaluate if a city can be self-sufficient energetically is proposed. • Only public, available and no cost information is used. • The energy of transport and heat has been considered electrified. • The case of Seville shows a self-sufficient renewable system presents lower costs. • Seasonal storage obtains non-economic solutions. Abstract This paper proposes a methodology that, using only publicly available information, assesses the capacity of urban agglomerations to be self-sufficient and energy sustainable. The methodology evaluates the potential of the urban surface to accommodate thermal and PV solar facilities, as well as the energy storage requirements on a year-round basis. When applied to the city of Seville, considering not only the current electricity demand but also the one arising from the electrification of both urban transport and the entire thermal energy currently supplied by gas, the conclusion is that it is possible to have a self-supplied energy system based almost exclusively on PV and thermal panels. Given the high cost of seasonal storage, the resulting system is economically unviable, so it makes sense to keep the transmission grid as a back-up system to feed power into the city at certain times of the year (up to 8% of annual consumption). In the case study, the renewable energy comes mainly from PV facilities roof-mounted (72%), or ground-mounted in the surrounding urban lots (25%), plus a modest contribution from biogas (wastewater). A discussion is included regarding the role of regulated utilities, that should be reconsidered in the light of these upcoming scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]