Planning the required energy infrastructure for the energy transition is a crucial task for various neighbourhood concepts, such as positive energy districts. However, energy planning often comes with the challenges of data shortages and a lack of comparability among solutions for different districts. This work aims to enable this comparability by introducing an approach for categorising districts according to parameters that are relevant for the planning of neighbourhood energy infrastructures. Four parameters (climate, floor space index, heating demand and share of residential buildings) and their respective ranges (bands) were derived from the literature. Additionally, this work visualised the combination of all parameter bands across Europe to conveniently showcase districts that are comparable according to the selected parameters. This approach and its visualisation could be used in urban planning to share knowledge from existing energy district projects with those planned in comparable districts.
The distribution of public electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure is a widespread approach for promoting EV adoption and decarbonising transportation. A significant amount of literature explores the distribution of EV charging points at a country scale, but there is a lack of studies focusing on a district scale. This study aims to contribute to this gap by gaining insights into the distribution of EV charging points per district within cities, such as Nottingham and Frankfurt. The study investigates the current distribution of EV charging points across 38 postcode districts in Frankfurt and 9 postcode districts in Nottingham, using geographical data analysis and a linear regression approach. The following factors in response to the number of EV charging points per postcode district (ZIP code) are examined: the percentage of apartment buildings/floor area ratio, the availability of amenities, population, charging capacity (kW), area size, strategic approaches, including policy goals and principles. The results reveal disparities in access to EV charging infrastructure across districts and underscore the importance of expanding EV charging networks not only in districts located near urban centres or those with high availability of amenities but also ensuring that users without home charging options are not left behind.