Energy and Regeneration (ENER-REGEN)

Assessment and intervention strategies for urban regeneration and mitigation of energy poverty in Barcelona and Bilbao

The ENER-REGEN project aims to conceptualize energy poverty; develop a methodology in line with a multi-scale socio-spatial characterization system for energy poverty, with the case study of six areas previously identified as highly vulnerable; critically analyze existing strategies and instruments with a view to promoting more inclusive and sustainable lines of action for poverty alleviation. This project seeks to:

  • Build a novel and innovative study framework that translates into powerful methodological approaches capable of addressing the pressing problem of energy poverty in contemporary cities.

  • Develop a multi-scale socio-spatial characterization system for energy poverty, which includes social, economic, morphological and physical-architectural measures, with the support of geographic information systems (GIS).

  • Critically analysis existing instruments to, on the one hand, quantify and identify and, on the other, intervene in the problem of energy poverty in the metropolitan areas of Barcelona and Bilbao, and at the same time develop innovative strategies focused on the most disadvantaged groups in the face of climate change.

This project is part of the National Strategic Line of R&D+i on Security for Society. It is especially related to the spatial dimension of inequalities, linked to spatial and individual aspects; the generation of new data on spatial and geographic mobility; migrations, multicultural societies, new identities, visible and invisible borders, integration, assimilation, marginalization and stigmatization.

ENER-REGEN (PID2022-142352OB-I00) is conceived as a substantial advance in the knowledge provided by the four MICINN projects (SEJ2005-03372/GEOG; CSO2008-04337/SOCI; CSO2011-26682, RE-INHABIT RTI2018-101342-B-I00) that have helped to understand the residential trajectory of migrant populations, housing conditions and the use of public spaces, which have found that social conflict increases in contexts where physical and environmental conditions are poor, while adequate space favors socialization and integration, basic elements for social cohesion. At the same time, the role of public policies in improving neighborhoods (public spaces, facilities and infrastructure, etc.) is noted.