PEOPLEValentina D'Alonzo

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Valentina D'Alonzo

Senior Researcher
Institute for Renewable Energy

T +39 0471 055 681

valentina.dalonzo@eurac.edu

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1569-3642

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About

Valentina D'Alonzo is senior researcher at the Institute for Renewable Energy, working in the Urban and Regional Energy Systems research group. Her main fields of activity are the integration of spatial planning with energy and climate issues for the energy transition (at urban and regional level), data-processing using GIS (Geographic Information Systems) to support the decision making process and, more recently, climate change adaptation and resilience enhancement.

LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valentina-dalonzo/

Scientific Publications

Journal article2023

Key dimensions of cities' engagement in the transition to climate neutrality

Salvia M, Pietrapertosa F, D'Alonzo V, Clerici Maestosi P, Simoes SG, Reckien D

Valentina D'Alonzo

Urbanization and the concentration of energy-consuming economic activities make cities responsible for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, cities are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate change impacts. The European Cities Mission launched a call in September 2021 to set out on a path towards “100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030”. A very large and diverse sample of 344 candidate cities in 35 countries (a subset of the 362 considered eligible to participate in the Cities Mission) was used to conduct this timely research aimed at identifying the main dimensions on which cities are working to achieve a smart and sustainable transition.

The research focused on five main dimensions: local climate planning, climate emergency declarations, participation in networks, international projects and competitions. Results show that only 20 (5.8%) cities have no experience in any of them, while there are 18 (5.2%) cities that have in their background activities that fall under all dimensions. Moreover, networking is the most important dimension, among the five analysed, for cities applying for this Mission, involving 309 cities (approximately 90% of the sample). This is followed by local climate planning, involving 275 cities (80%) and city participation in international projects, involving 152 cities (44%). Cities that have declared a climate emergency are less than a fifth of the sample and are very unevenly distributed in only 37.1% of the countries represented (interestingly, all the UK cities in the sample). Similarly, only 49 cities (14.2%) have received international awards.

The results provide insights into the main efforts currently being made by cities to engage in the transition to climate neutrality and may be useful to practitioners, scholars and policy-makers at all levels to improve their knowledge of the steps they need to take to support this process and amplify its scope.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118519

Journal article2023

Understanding the motivations and implications of climate emergency declarations in cities: The case of Italy

Salvia M, Reckien D, Geneletti D, Pietrapertosa F, D'Alonzo V, De Gregorio Hurtado S, Chatterjee S, Bai X,

Valentina D'Alonzo

This study investigates the climate emergency declaration (CED) movement in cities and its effects and synergies with local climate planning. Urban areas are experiencing a wide range of climate-induced extreme events, particularly those located in the Mediterranean hotspot. The focus is on Italian cities, which have only recently become key players in climate planning. The method is based on the collection, analysis, and comparison of data on CEDs and local climate plans (LCPs), integrated with information on city membership in climate networks, to extrapolate key performance indicators of the CED movement. The results show that the CED movement can motivate municipalities to become more ambitious in climate action. As of February 2021, the “climate emergency” movement was supported by 105 Italian cities geographically concentrated in the northern regions (66.7%). The motivation behind a CED is often attributable to local populations calling for concrete climate action (91.1% referred to the Fridays for Future movement) but also to a greater perception of the impacts of climate change (85.6% referred to the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C). Networking plays an important role (85 cities in the Covenant of Mayors). Interestingly, 36 cities (34.3%) were not engaged in local climate planning previously, but the CED shows now they see the urgency to act. 24.4% cities aim at carbon neutrality in their CEDs (most with local adaptation aspirations), with a much smaller fraction of cities doing so in LCPs and generally lower ambition in terms of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2023.113236

Report2021

Analisi dello stato dell'arte: Report sui settori e attività produttive per promuovere l'Economia Circolare

Bastos J, Rizzari M, Agosti E, D'Alonzo V, Hoffmann C, Vettorato D

Daniele Vettorato, Valentina D'Alonzo, Christian Hoffmann

Projekt: IT SNSvs SEC - Strategie der Kreislaufwirtschaft für die Autonome Provinz Bozen

L’obiettivo dell’azione A.1 del progetto Strategia per l’Economia Circolare nella Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano (SEC) è quello di analizzare lo stato dell’arte sulla penetrazione dell’economia circolare (EC) nella Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano (PAB). Questo report dell’azione A.1 contiene una breve descrizione dello stato dell’arte con lo scopo di contestualizzare e supportare la definizione dell’ambito e della strategia del progetto.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6389393

Journal article2021

Multi-level climate change planning: An analysis of the Italian case

Pietrapertosa F, Salvia M, De Gregorio Hurtado S, Geneletti D, D'Alonzo V, Reckien D

Valentina D'Alonzo

As recognized by the Paris Climate Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), local and subnational regions are crucial actors to achieve international mitigation and adaptation commitments. Scientific literature and empirical evidence point at multi-level climate governance as a crucial factor to engage subnational levels in the achievement of national and international objectives. This work focuses on the multi-level climate governance arrangements in Italy to investigate how Italian regions/provinces/cities are contributing to the achievement of national commitments. To this purpose, the paper undertakes a review of the climate policies of different tiers of government adopted to date and of the interrelationships among them. The results of the analysis show that the effective coordination between the different government levels should be strengthened to further incentivize and support initiatives at the local level. Results also show the relevant role played by international regional and city climate networks in boosting local and regional climate planning in Italy.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112469

Journal article2020

A Bottom-up Spatially Explicit Methodology to Estimate the Space Heating Demand of the Building Stock at Regional Scale

D'Alonzo V, Novelli A, Vaccaro R, Vettorato D, Albatici R, Diamantini C, Zambelli P

Daniele Vettorato, Valentina D'Alonzo

Projekt: EU AS GRETA - Oberflächennahe Geothermie im Alpenraum

The paper presents a spatially explicit and “bottom-up” methodology for the building stock analysis of the residential sector. It integrates different input data in a Geographical Information System (GIS), without using the “archetypes approach” and simulation tools. In particular, the energy balance at the building level (BL) for the whole Valle d'Aosta region (Italy) is addressed, using the Italian Ministerial Decree 26/06/2009 and the UNI/TS 11300-1:2014 standard. Main outputs are the estimation of the geo-referenced heating demand of the residential buildings for the case study area (almost 42,000 buildings), and the development of a methodology that can be applied at different scales. The application of the methodology to the case study slightly overestimates the total thermal demand of the residential building stock, especially referring to the more energy demanding buildings. However, being the method influenced by data availability, the quality is expected to improve with newly available data. The proposed GIS-based methodology is designed to be part of a broader Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) for sustainable energy plans that integrate renewable sources in the building stock energy renovation.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2019.109581

Journal article2019

Dedicated versus mainstreaming approaches in local climate plans in Europe

Reckiena D, Salvia M, Pietrapertosa F, Simoes SG, Olazabald M, De Gregorio Hurtado S, Geneletti D, Krkoška Lorencová E,

Valentina D'Alonzo

Cities are gaining prominence committing to respond to the threat of climate change, e.g., by developing local climate plans or strategies. However, little is known regarding the approaches and processes of plan development and implementation, or the success and effectiveness of proposed measures. Mainstreaming is regarded as one approach associated with (implementation) success, but the extent of integration of local climate policies and plans in ongoing sectoral and/or development planning is unclear. This paper analyses 885 cities across the 28 European countries to create a first reference baseline on the degree of climate mainstreaming in local climate plans. This will help to compare the benefits of mainstreaming versus dedicated climate plans, looking at policy effectiveness and ultimately delivery of much needed climate change efforts at the city level. All core cities of the European Urban Audit sample were analyzed, and their local climate plans classified as dedicated or mainstreamed in other local policy initiatives. It was found that the degree of mainstreaming is low for mitigation (9% of reviewed cities; 12% of the identified plans) and somewhat higher for adaptation (10% of cities; 29% of plans). In particular horizontal mainstreaming is a major effort for local authorities; an effort that does not necessarily pay off in terms of success of action implementation. This study concludes that climate change issues in local municipalities are best tackled by either, developing a dedicated local climate plan in parallel to a mainstreamed plan or by subsequently developing first the dedicated and later a mainstreaming plan (joint or subsequent “dual track approach”). Cities that currently provide dedicated local climate plans (66% of cities for mitigation; 26% of cities for adaptation) may follow-up with a mainstreaming approach. This promises effective implementation of tangible climate actions as well as subsequent diffusion of climate issues into other local sector policies. The development of only broad sustainability or resilience strategies is seen as critical.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2019.05.014

Journal article2019

Urban climate change mitigation and adaptation planning: Are Italian cities ready?

Pietrapertosa F, Salvia M, De Gregorio Hurtado S, D'Alonzo V, Church JM, Geneletti D, Musco F, Reckieng D

Valentina D'Alonzo

Climate Action Planning is one of the top priorities of cities in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening climate-resilience, as pointed out by the New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement.

This study aims at assessing the development of climate change mitigation and adaptation planning in Italian cities. To this end, we analysed the availability of Local Climate Plans (LCPs) in 76 cities, which are included in the Eurostat Urban Audit (UA-2015) database. In a further step, we analysed the content of the urban climate change mitigation and adaptation plans available in a smaller sample of 32 Italian cities of 2007 Eurostat Urban Audit database (UA-3), looking at the single actions undertaken for addressing mitigation and adaptation to climate change. Results show the almost total absence of comprehensive and stand-alone urban climate change adaptation plans in Italy (except for two cities, Ancona and Bologna), whereas we found that in 61 out of 76 cities municipal civil protection plans are the instruments that deal with local emergencies associated to extreme weather events. On the other hand, 56 out of 76 urban climate change mitigation plans (i.e. Sustainable Energy Action Plans) are being developed in the framework of the Covenant of Mayors, which is a transnational network of local governments created by the European Union (EU) in 2012. The results obtained on the mitigation side point out that, in absence of a national law that imposes Italian cities to develop LCPs, transnational networks are an effective boost to voluntary commitment to reach EU climate and energy objectives.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2018.11.009

Journal article2018

How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28

Reckien D, Salvia M, Heidrich O, Church JM, Pietrapertosa F, De Gregorio-Hurtado S, D'Alonzo V, Foley A,

Valentina D'Alonzo

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing information about local climate mitigation and adaptation plans across 885 urban areas of the EU-28. A typology and framework for analysis was developed that classifies local climate plans in terms of their alignment with spatial (local, national and international) and other climate related policies. Out of eight types of local climate plans identified in total we document three types of stand-alone local climate plans classified as type A1 (autonomously produced plans), A2 (plans produced to comply with national regulations) or A3 (plans developed for international climate networks). There is wide variation among countries in the prevalence of local climate plans, with generally more plans developed by central and northern European cities. Approximately 66% of EU cities have a type A1, A2, or A3 mitigation plan, 26% an adaptation plan, and 17% a joint adaptation and mitigation plan, while about 33% lack any form of stand-alone local climate plan (i.e. what we classify as A1, A2, A3 plans). Mitigation plans are more numerous than adaptation plans, but planning for mitigation does not always precede planning for adaptation. Our analysis reveals that city size, national legislation, and international networks can influence the development of local climate plans. We found that size does matter as about 80% of the cities with above 500,000 inhabitants have a comprehensive and stand-alone mitigation and/or an adaptation plan (A1). Cities in four countries with national climate legislation (A2), i.e. Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, are nearly twice as likely to produce local mitigation plans, and five times more likely to produce local adaptation plans, compared to cities in countries without such legislation. A1 and A2 mitigation plans are particularly numerous in Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Finland; while A1 and A2 adaptation plans are prevalent in Denmark, Finland, UK and France. The integration of adaptation and mitigation is country-specific and can mainly be observed in two countries where local climate plans are compulsory, i.e. France and the UK. Finally, local climate plans produced for international climate networks (A3) are mostly found in the many countries where autonomous (type A1) plans are less common. This is the most comprehensive analysis of local climate planning to date. The findings are of international importance as they will inform and support decision-making towards climate planning and policy development at national, EU and global level being based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of local climate planning available to date.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.220

Journal article2017

Smart energy city development: A story told by urban planners

Mosannenzadeh F, Bisello A, Vaccaro R, D'Alonzo V, Hunter G, Vettorato D

Adriano Bisello, Daniele Vettorato, Valentina D'Alonzo

The smart energy city is an emerging concept in urban development, aiming to optimize urban energy systems and improve the quality of life for citizens. However, smart energy city development requires a well-defined and consistent conceptual core in order to ensure its accurate interpretation and successful implementation. This research aims to define smart energy city development not only in a theoretical context, but also in terms of practical solutions. We adopt the 5W + 1H (why, what, who, where, when, how) model integrated with literature review and expert knowledge elicitation, i.e., focus groups and interviews. This results in: (i) clarification of general interrelationship between smart energy city, smart city, and sustainable city; (ii) a holistic, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive conceptual framework of smart energy city, revealing its principles, objectives, domains of intervention, stakeholders, and time and spatial scales; and (iii) a set of smart energy practical solutions and technologies categorized in the eight domains of intervention: buildings and districts, transportation and mobility, energy and ICT (information and communication technology) infrastructures, collaborative planning, consumer behavior management, energy and data management, as well as two cross-cutting domains. We suggest that sustainable, rational, and integrated application of new technologies, collaboration of multiple stakeholders, and integration of multiple urban energy domains, mainstreamed in energy specific targets, enable distinguishing real from labeled smart energy city development. We suggest that smart energy solutions are mostly effective when combined with other sustainable solutions. This research is applicable for all smart energy city stakeholders, particularly decision makers and researchers, in order to enhance a common and comprehensive understanding of the smart energy city concept and its practical solutions to foster sustainable smart energy city development.

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2017.02.001

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Journal article2018

How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28

Reckien D, Salvia M, Heidrich O, Church JM, Pietrapertosa F, De Gregorio-Hurtado S, D'Alonzo V, Foley A,

Valentina D'Alonzo

DOI Quelle

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.03.220

Valentina D'Alonzo

About

Scientific Publications

Key dimensions of cities' engagement in the transition to climate neutrality

Understanding the motivations and implications of climate emergency declarations in cities: The case of Italy

Analisi dello stato dell'arte: Report sui settori e attività produttive per promuovere l'Economia Circolare

Multi-level climate change planning: An analysis of the Italian case

A Bottom-up Spatially Explicit Methodology to Estimate the Space Heating Demand of the Building Stock at Regional Scale

Dedicated versus mainstreaming approaches in local climate plans in Europe

Urban climate change mitigation and adaptation planning: Are Italian cities ready?

How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28

Smart energy city development: A story told by urban planners

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Externe Inhalte

Scientific Publications

Key dimensions of cities' engagement in the transition to climate neutrality

Understanding the motivations and implications of climate emergency declarations in cities: The case of Italy

Analisi dello stato dell'arte: Report sui settori e attività produttive per promuovere l'Economia Circolare

Multi-level climate change planning: An analysis of the Italian case

A Bottom-up Spatially Explicit Methodology to Estimate the Space Heating Demand of the Building Stock at Regional Scale

Dedicated versus mainstreaming approaches in local climate plans in Europe

Urban climate change mitigation and adaptation planning: Are Italian cities ready?

How are cities planning to respond to climate change? Assessment of local climate plans from 885 cities in the EU-28

Smart energy city development: A story told by urban planners