Sustainable urban renovation is characterized by multiple factors (e.g., technical, socio-economic, environmental and ethical perspectives), different spatial scales and a number of administrative structures that should address the evaluation of alternative scenarios or solutions. This defines a complex decision problem that includes different stakeholders where several aspects need to be considered simultaneously. In spite of the knowledge and experiences during the recent years, there is a need of methods that lead the decision-making processes. In response, a methodology based on a KPI-driven approach for urban renovation at district level is proposed in the European Smart City project CITyFiED. The methodology is a procedure with the energy efficiency as main pillar and the local authorities as client. It is composed of seven phases that ensures an effective dialogue among all the stakeholders, aiming to understand the objectives and needs of the city to deliver a set of customized Strategies for Sustainable Urban Renovation. In order to provide guidance and quantitative criteria, three levels of indicators are integrated into the approach: City Level Indicators (L1) at city & district level, Project Level KPIs (L2), and Impact Assessment Indicators at city level (L3).

Traditionally, the energy efficiency in buildings has been evaluated through well-established protocols that highly depend on Key Performance Indicators (KPI). However, nowadays, the trend has moved from buildings to districts and cities where not only energy efficiency is pivotal, but also the sustainability under the scope of smart city. There exist several widely recognized environmental assessment methodologies such as BREEAM or LEED that aim to assess the sustainability of buildings based on a rating system represented by a set of indicators, namely credits. Nevertheless, the application of these standards is complex and costly. Hence, this paper presents an alternative holistic sustainability protocol, developed under the European project CITyFiED, driven by a comprehensive set of indicators to assess the sustainability of urban areas in terms of energy efficiency, environmental, economic and social impact, together with the effect of the information and communication technologies.