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Energetic City/ Planetary Urbanism/ Critique of the present/ 2015/ D


Energy efficient cities

The consumption of energy will be an important topic in politics in the next millennium. In 2050 about 70% per cent of the world population lives in urban environments. Thus creating energy efficient cities will also become an important issue. Creating an energy efficient environment will have large impact on the way we build, but it will also have significant impact on public space. This exercise is a reconstruction of a part of a North-West European city towards an energy efficient city. Europe cannot afford to waste energy. Energy efficiency is one of the central objectives for 2020 as well as a key factor in achieving our long-term energy and climate goals. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions, improve energy security and competitiveness, make energy consumption more affordable for consumers as well as create employment, including in/export industries. Above all, it provides tangible benefits to citizens: average energy savings for a household can amount to €1000 per year. Over the next ten years, energy investments in the order of €1 trillion are needed, both to diversify existing resources and replace equipment and to cater for challenging and changing energy requirements.

North-West European cities

To transform from an energy inefficient city towards an energy efficient city we have to take several steps. To make the area of the city energy efficient we can do two things. We can produce energy in the area or create blocks that are zero energy buildings. To create zero energy buildings we have to reduce the outer skin of the buildings. For this the area becomes more dense and bigger blocks are introduced (red). To create appealing and energy efficient blocks we introduce internal public spaces in the big blocks. These are internals winter gardens and plazas (orange). To produce energy a new landscape is introduced. This is the roof landscape. All south facing blocks are used to install solar panels for production of warm water and electricity. The other roofs are greened with gardens and sedum roofs (green). The greening of the city-roof avoids the area becomes a heat island. Next to the gardens and solar roofs a new typology of building is introduced. This is a south facing building, light architectural structure that is placed on top of the roofs. These blocks are situated on the east-west oriented blocks creating a new attractive landscape on top of the city as a new layer (bleu). Mobility in the city will also change. We are going to use less energy for mobility. Muscle powered mobility and electric mobility will change the way we are going to move through the city. We are going to change from cars to bikes. This way of transportation requires far more space for this type of mobility. There will be competition between ‘car’-mobility and ‘bike’-mobility. Streets will change from cars to bikes. A double network is introduced. A network for car-mobility and a network for e-bike mobility.

Project information


Name project : Energetic City/ Planetary Urbanism/ Arch +

Number : 15-006

Place : Aachen

Country : Germany


Name : ARCH + Verlag GmbH

Character and size of the area

Strategy for a new energy approach in North West European urban areas.

Area : 50 ha.