Low temperature district heating and cooling networks (5GDHC) in combination with very shallow geothermal energy potentials enable the complete renewable heating and cooling supply of settlements up to entire city districts. With the help of 5GDHC, heating and cooling can be distributed at a low temperature level with almost no distribution losses and made useable to consumers via decentralized heat pumps (HP). Numerous renewable heat sources, from wastewater heat exchangers and low-temperature industrial waste heat to borehole heat exchangers and large-scale geothermal collector systems (LSC), can be used for these networks. The use of large-scale geothermal collector systems also offers the opportunity to shift heating and cooling loads seasonally, contributing to flexibility in the heating network. In addition, the soil can be cooled below freezing point due to the strong regeneration caused by the solar irradiation. Multilayer geothermal collector systems can be used to deliberately generate excessive cooling of individual areas in order to provide cooling energy for residential buildings, office complexes or industrial applications. Planning these systems requires expertise and understanding regarding the interaction of these technologies in the overall system. This paper provides a summary of experience in planning 5GDHC with large-scale geothermal collector systems as well as other renewable heat sources.

Energetic stability is a precondition for a regular functioning of society and economy. Actual climate change raised the awareness of population and policy makers about the importance of exploited energy sources. Renewable energy sources are revealed as the solution which should satisfy both needs—a need for energetic stability, as well as a need for producing ‘clean’ and ‘sustainable’ energy, and therefore reduce humans’ influence on the climate change. Very shallow geothermal energy offers wide range for utilization, among others for heating and cooling living spaces. This article shows potentials of low temperature heating system networks in a small Serbian town of Ub. In addition to technical possibilities, this article combines geographical and social, as well as political and economic circumstances in the town of Ub, which emerge as a result of a complex (post-socialist) transitional vortex.

The city quarter of Savamala, as an integral part of Belgrade, has had a very turbulent development path during the last two centuries. This path included several ups and downs, and culminated in tension over the last decade. Savamala fell into silent oblivion in the 20th century, but succeeded in re-emerging into the focus of the public and interest groups, mainly due to the cultural milieu that developed in this area at the beginning of the 21st century. The cultural vibes of the city quarter attracted various urban actors, who created a new image of Savamala. Eventually, cultural functions started to fade; however, after several years and through vague political decisions, Savamala became the part of the largest construction site in Belgrade, the Belgrade Waterfront. This article highlights the development of Savamala in the 2010s—from a forgotten city quarter to a rising cultural quarter and finally to the ’future centre of the city’. This analysis shows the participation of different stakeholders at different stages of development (their influence, power levels, and the mechanisms they used), as well as the footprints that urban development left in the quarter.

Horizontal shallow geothermal applications are easy to install, and their installation process is less liable to legislation than other geothermal systems. Due to a lack of planning guidance, the opportunity to implement such systems is often overlooked, although geothermal installations are urgently needed as a sustainable energy source. To give a foundation for including very shallow geothermal systems in local heat supply planning, potential maps are crucial. To enable their utilization in energy use plans or similar elaborations for municipalities, location-specific and system-specific heat extractions are required. Since applicable standards are not available, it is nearly impossible to provide aggregate propositions, which are essential for potential maps. In this study, a concept was evolved for deriving very shallow geothermal potential maps with location-specific and system-specific heat extraction values. As a basis, VDI 4640 Part 2 information regarding heat extraction and respective climate zone references was utilized. Furthermore, climate information and a soil map were needed to apply the concept to the study area. The application of the concept in an Austrian study area resulted in appropriate potential maps. Moreover, this concept is similarly applicable in other areas of interest.

The development of the functional settlement typology methodology is of academic and practical importance as it incorporates the social, economic, and demographic dimensions of regional development. Rural settlements are seen as a base for labor; traditional urban centers have become a base for commuters, while at the same time, new economic centers are emerging where capital investment is accumulating. This article presents the research conducted in the Srem region (located in the province of Vojvodina) to determine the functional typology of the settlement, which is of social, economic, and demographic importance for the region itself and for Serbia as a whole. This well-known immigration area in Serbia has been inhabited for centuries for its specific economic and political reasons. The very intensive economic activities of the last two decades have been influenced by development investments and contributed to the functional transformation of the settlements. The census data from 2022 make it possible to determine a functional typology of settlements in the Srem region using the factor method (principal component analysis). The article aims to explain the basic characteristics of functional types of settlements and to determine the mechanisms of their territorial distribution, which would be helpful in the future planning and organization of local and regional development of the Republic of Serbia.