Call for Abstracts: Enabling Positive Energy District and Climate-Neutral Cities: Data, Governance and Flexibility
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Frontiers in Energy Research has opened a Call for Papers titled "Enabling Positive Energy District and Climate-Neutral Cities: Data, Governance and Flexibility," edited by Paola Clerici Maestosi (ENEA, Casaccia Research Centre), Giovanni Semprini (University of Bologna), and Ghazal Etminan (Austrian Institute of Technology).
District-scale energy systems are increasingly recognized as a operational level for advancing climate neutrality in cities. Climate-Neutral Districts (CNDs) and Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) provide complementary frameworks to support this transition, combining distributed energy generation, sector coupling, and demand-side management.
Although their conceptual foundations are relatively mature, implementation remains fragmented and difficult to scale. This is largely due to three systemic challenges:
fragmented data models, standards, and interfaces limit interoperability across heterogeneous platforms;
misalignment between governance and energy system requirements;
the underexploited flexibility potentials at building and district level.
Against this background, the Research Topic focuses on these energy-relevant enabling conditions, framing districts as active nodes within wider energy systems, rather than isolated urban projects.
Topic areas
Data and interoperability in multi-vector energy systems;
Governance and market integration, including public-private partnerships and Climate City Contracts;
Energy communities and demand-side dynamics;
Flexibility strategies and predictive control;
PED/CND implementation: case studies, living labs, and replicability pathways.
Accepted article types
Original Research, Review, Policy and Practice Reviews, Mini Review, Methods, Perspective, among others — in line with the journal's author guidelines.
