A model for mapping the energy consumption of buildings, transport and outdoor lighting of neighbourhoods

Energy consumption of urban areas is a relevant theme for sustainable spatial planning. Through the integration of energy and urban planning issues, it can be identified a suitable strategy to face climate change. This study aims to evaluate overall energy demand of existing urban neighbourhoods, considering the most energy intensive sectors within a city. Using GIS software, the method provides energy mapping of neighbourhoods, allowing to improve the insight of energy demand of cities and to develop a preliminary assessment for future scenarios. The method has been applied to a neighbourhood of the municipality of Catania in southern Italy. Methodology and earliest results are discussed in this paper.