The transformation of cities into smarter and more sustainable environments is essential towards achieving the objectives of the decarbonization of the economy. In this sense, holistic strategies are required to design and implement urban regeneration strategies. The EU-funded REMOURBAN project has developed an Urban Regeneration Model which provides the mechanisms to implement more efficiently these processes, integrating technologies, business models, management procedures and evaluation mechanisms, where the evaluation is sought as the main supporting mechanism throughout the various phases of the city transformation process. The framework developed considers two levels of evaluation: city level, to assess both sustainability and smartness of the city as a whole from a comprehensive and integrated perspective, and project level, to provide a clear identification of the impact of implementation of technologies and solutions on three key priority areas (sustainable districts and built environment, sustainable urban mobility and integrated infrastructures and processes) aimed at achieving the city high-level goals. This paper introduces the Urban Regeneration Model and describes the evaluation framework and its implementation in the city of Valladolid (Spain).

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This paper presents a novel evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of city transformation projects related to energy efficiency and sustainable mobility actions. The evaluation framework is part of an Urban Regeneration Model designed to accelerate the urban transformation toward the smart city concept, taking into account all aspects of sustainability. This model has been developed and validated in the three EU cities (Valladolid, Spain; Nottingham, United Kingdom; and Tepebaşı, Turkey) where interventions in the energy, mobility, and ICT fields have been deployed. This model relies on an Evaluation Framework to support its main phases considering two levels of evaluation: city level, to assess globally the smartness and sustainability of the city, and project level, to support the decision-making and assess the impacts of specific implementations. This paper is focused on the second level and its application through the evaluation-supporting tool STILE in the assessment of the energy efficiency and sustainable urban mobility actions implemented in the city of Valladolid. The assessment analysis has allowed assessing how the energy efficiency interventions carried out in the Valladolid district have reduced the energy consumption, increased the use of renewable energies, and reduced the CO₂ emissions. In addition, it has allowed evaluating other aspects such as the air quality, thermal comfort, and energy bill, which have been also improved for the residents. Considering the analysis of the sustainable mobility interventions, the evaluation framework supports the assessment of the reduction of emissions and air pollutants and how the actions have converted electro-mobility into a real option for citizens. The evaluation of results after the implementation of this kind of actions is key to ensuring that successful actions can be replicated in other places achieving smarter and more sustainable cities.

With the aim of achieving a Near Zero Energy District, a series of interventions have been designed focusing on improving the sustainability of the FASA neighborhood in Valladolid, increasing its energy efficiency and reducing the CO₂ emissions of its buildings. In order to achieve this objective, the REMOURBAN project will act on the envelope of its buildings, on their illumination and it will modify the thermal installations to replace the current fossil fuels by renewable sources, for both heating and domestic hot water. These actions will make Valladolid a smart city benchmark with interventions in the energy, mobility and ICT sectors.

Recently the EU established the new obligations of the member states towards 2030, which are the reduction of CO2 emissions in 40% with regards to the values in 1990, the integration of 32% of renewable energy production, the improvement of energy efficiency in 32.5% and the establishment of 15% of electric interconnection among member states. Beyond 2030, the EU establishes also as global target the decarbonisation of the economy by 2050. While for new buildings the principles to achieve nearly zero or very efficient buildings are well established and technically and economically viable, these principles are less clear in large scale renovations of existing buildings. It is precisely in renovation where the focus should be to reach climate neutrality in the coming 30 years due to the high amount of existing building stock in Europe and the potential that consequently these urban areas offer. The strategies to achieve nearly zero retrofitted buildings have to balance technical solutions, economic viability and integration of renewable sources. Also, the issue of scale becomes essential, where districts can be considered as a system of complex interconnections, interactions, relationships and flows that offer greater flexibility to integrate certain Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) or to implement specific business models. Therefore a comprehensive approach is essential for effective decision-making with regards to energy efficiency improvement. Thus, approaches for a comprehensive and integrated renovation of districts are needed to unlock the full potential existing on retrofitting the building stock. This paper builds on this element and presents the energy retrofitting of a residential neighborhood in Spain under the EU funded project REMOURBAN that has followed an integrated approach to design the appropriate combination of ECMs leading to 40% of energy consumption reduction and 85% of CO2 emissions avoided to the atmosphere.