Zero-Energy Campuses

The development of campus-like environments and related research has not previously been done in cooperation between cities, universities, and companies, which is our focus. Central to our research, the goal is to participate in the international scientific discussion on the relationship between local energy production and social as well as physical urban space, including related processes of analysis and value creation. Local sustainable energy production is a crucial technique in sustainable development, which aims at diminishing carbon dioxide emissions and increasing resilience. Technological advantages have made this possible, but there are obstacles for full implementation and widespread applications due to missing models for urban design. Our question is how to combine urban construction – housing, working places and services – together with the infrastructure of distributed and local energy production in the scale of a campus. The traditional model of centralized energy plants was based on areal separation of functions, thus our question is, how will urban design and people’s lives change when energy production and housing, as well as other city functions are put to a same place? This requires new concepts, methods, and models, as well as new urban design guidelines and prototypes.

Duration 
2024-25

Keywords
Energy, dispersed production, carbon dioxide emissions, campus, urban ecosystems

Funder 
Research Council of Finland

People involved in the project
Antti Ahlava (Aalto University); Su Yungsheng, Pan Yiqun, Yan Ting (Tongji University)

Contact information