the poseidon
methodology
The POSEIDON methodology consists of a process taking place over seven steps, each step based on a set of guides and tools.
Municipalities will lead the process but will need the support of experts of different fields (economic, social, political, legal, environmental, and technical) in order to correctly implement the methodology.
A selection of the districts that will be transformed into PEDs will be carried out via a Geographic Information System-based Multiple-Criteria Decision Analysis (GIS-based MCDA), which will be executed to identify the areas of the city that are most suitable for PEDs implementation.
In this prioritization process, the MCDA will include criteria related to potential and necessities of the districts by collecting GIS-based data of the potentials (such as resource availability, land-use context, urban macroform and development, energy infrastructure, energy services and social structure) in the cities, then evaluate it over economic, social, political, legal, environmental, and technical aspects and identify PED concepts boundaries.
This first estimation will be done using the POSEIDON tool, that will take as input the initial state of the district. The current state of the district – in term of energy, greening and mobility – will be defined with data retrieved from public sources. Four categories of technical solutions, for buildings and their environment, will be considered: efficiency in retrofitting of buildings, energy generation and flexibility, Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), mobility and transports.
The output of the software, the technical predesign, will consist of a selection and quantification of solutions to implement, as well as technical indications and urban planning guidelines (see step 3).
The technical pre-design will be optimized depending on the main priorities and necessities of the city and will enable to obtain a first estimation of PED’s impacts (such as estimating energy consumption and production, performing a Life Cycle Analysis, and analyzing the economic parameters and impact)
This step will be executed with the support of local urban planner and considering national and municipality directives.
The urban planning will follow guidelines elaborated on the basis of European and national urban agenda. The result of this step will be a district complying with PED objectives, the agendas principles and local regulations.
The district and the selected technical solutions will be modelled within the POSEIDON tool and detailed impacts will be calculated. Steps 3 and 4 will be repeated several times in an iterative process until impacts comply with PEDs targets and city priorities.
In this step, through the eLab, inhabitants will have the opportunity to propose modifications to the PED’s design, give their approval to the proposals presented by the POSEIDON tool and participate in the selection of strategies for the implementation of the PED.
Social endorsement will be essential to support technical solutions and ensure the environmental, social and economic sustainability of the PED.
The PED design will be adapted considering inhabitants’ suggestions and PED implementation strategies. The final design will be modelled and simulated in POSEIDON tool and impacts of the adapted design will be calculated.
Finally, on the basis of the previous steps, the POSEIDON tool will provide a transition scenario from the initial state of the district to PED, which fairly and consciously includes citizens.
The
Tools
The PED transition of the demosites proposed by POSEIDON will be through 3 tools:
1) POSEIDON MCDA: Through the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) tool, it will be possible to identify the different districts that have the potential for PED transition in order to promote their transformation.
2) POSEIDON tool: which will support the selection of different solutions and scenarios that can support the municipalities in their implementation.
The software tool will have three main functionalities:
1) selection of technical solutions for the predesign of the PED;
2) modelling and simulation of the PED;
3) generation of transition scenario.
3) POSEIDON Lab: which will allow the involvement of citizens inside and outside the demosite district, through two types of laboratories: weLab and eLab.
The weLab, will consist of face-to-face and participatory activities organized in the districts selected for the PED transition.
The eLab will consist of a digital platform where collaborative activities on energy, sustainable and inclusive transition of cities will be developed.
These activities will enable to increase the capacity of citizens and strengthen the network of actors involved in urban transition, locally in internationally.
As a whole, POSEIDON Lab will aim to strengthen the social ecosystem that will subsequently support the implementation of the PEDs at a local level, and create a common framework that will enable and promote mutual learning and experience exchange between the different PED demosites.
In a nutshell, POSEIDON Lab will enable citizens to take part in the transformation of their district, not only as beneficiaries or partners, but also as real actors of change.