Community Initiatives in Achieving Sustainable City, Energy and Infrastructure

It has been evident how the effects of climate change are impacting the living environments of the world's population, significantly in contexts where the trend of urbanization has led most people to live in cities. Urban contexts are the main concentrations of energy consumption to meet different needs, considering industry, transport and the maintenance of lighting and climatic comfort within buildings, with impacts on air, soil and water pollution. In addition, the world has witnessed the environmental damages caused by the use of fossil sources of energy, the need for measures to face climate change impact and the increasing energy costs. In order to do this, the use of renewable energy sources have been part of global and regional agendas. The arising challenges are bringing unexpected solutions, as “one-size-does-not-fit-all”; in terms of energy supply, small scale models are emerging and have been recently regulated by the European Union and implemented in different ways by its State-members. In Italy, different forms of collective production and self-consumption of energy from renewable sources, such as RECs (Renewable Energy Communities), became increasingly popular. In Indonesia, several community and government initiatives on reducing carbon emission and zero-waste energy are emerging. Energy poverty is a condition where a household does not have the ability to maintain a comfortable home temperature, due to inadequately constructed buildings, lack of cooling or heating systems or the excessive cost of maintaining them. As a result, living comfort is foregone with repercussions. on health and well-being. The situation is worse in informal settlements, where residents lack of access to different sources and renewable energy, the poor pays more. With the outcomes of this research we expect to shed light on new governance arrangements emerging from energy communities as well as this can be the trigger for social innovation in multiple urban contexts, addressing other challenges posed by climate change (e. g. possibly contributing to new form of citizens democracy, enhancing the sense of belonging and promoting awareness on environmental issues).