Cities TCP combines all relevant technical and non-technical research results from other City-related TCPs and direct learning experiences from Cities worldwide for all kinds of strategic measures to support the decision-making process on a city/district level. Cities TCP provides a platform to integrate and communicate relevant IEA knowledge and expertise. And it offers a space to connect all stakeholders on a national, regional and local level, thus creating a multi-disciplinary approach to drive and accelerate the energy transition to a carbon-neutral society.
Decision-making, planning, and the selection of the best-fit solutions for decarbonisation take place in a dynamic environment and need to simultaneously consider a variety of aspects and inter-connected goals (local economy, education, health, employment, circular economy, etc.). This integrated decision-making requires comprehensive skills, knowledge, and resources, which are often missing in smaller communities. This is aggravated by high complexities and uncertainties associated with innovative technologies, the combination of technologies, and the practical impact of implementation measures. This regularly leads to un-coordinated and fragmented decision-making not only within cities, but also within different stakeholder groups. (Research shows that even larger cities lack an integrated planning process and are often unable to evaluate cutting-edge technologies and current national and international knowledge. A strong link is needed between policy development and decision-making for concrete investments in energy infrastructure and technologies – whereby, ideally, the citizens are involved).
So whether you are involved in designing the research projects, or more in the practical development, implementation, and or evaluation of projects, this TCP pools together all the necessary jigsaw pieces and creates a place to help solve the jigsaw together by collaborating, learning from and inspiring one another.
Cities TCP aims to help with navigating through the wealth of knowledge and expertise of buildings-related TCPs technology to find most relevant and useful information for anyone working in or researching the transition concerning cities. If a city faces a problem somewhere in the world there is a solution (or at least the beginnings to a solution) like the necessary boundary conditions to solve the problem(s).