Neighbourhood Energy Community: Norms, Actors and Policies. The Case of Pilastro-Roveri

Abstract

The decarbonization of cities implies a complex transition where energy solutions are conceived as social configurations which have emerged contingently in particular institutional and spatial contexts. Within this framework, neighbourhood energy communities have recently gained attention due to their multi-agent character and the deriving governance implications. Their study calls for a renovated attention to public policies and spatial governance arrangements, to better analyse the peculiar characteristics of energy communities’ processes on specific territories. Acknowledging the above, the chapter explores the main features and governance practices that characterise the experience of Pilastro-Roveri energy community in the city of Bologna. More specifically, it looks into: (i) the spatial conditions that led to focus the attention on a specific area and selected project proposal; (ii) the actors involved in decision-making and their relations at different stages of the process (iii) the implications for urban governance and policies. The analysis draws on a mixed methodology that combines documental review, semi-structured interviews with privileged actors and on-site observations. Overall, the collected evidence contributes to a better understanding of the main levers and catalysts that trigger process innovation in shaping norms and practices of neighbourhood energy communities in the Italian context.