Governing Urban Development For Local Energy Autonomy

Energy independence based on renewable resources has become an important goal for communities around the world. A number of local governments have either achieved such self-sufficiency based on energy autonomy strategies or are pursuing the goal as a determined planning target. This sets an important precedent for others to also consider transforming their conventional energy systems to one based on local renewable energy. While energy models can determine a local area's technical capacity for numerical self-sufficiency, this dissertation focuses on the ability to actually realise it by governing urban development for local energy autonomy. The process focuses not only on policies and tools but also on the operations in the pursuit of what is first and foremost a guiding vision. Since 1977, the Principality of Liechtenstein has formally engaged in the planning of the national and local energy supply. In the process of steady population growth and industrialisation it has come to rely almost entirely on fossil and nuclear energy: as imports these make up 90 percent of its primary energy use. At the local level, municipalities maintain efforts in efficiency and renewable energy based on the Swiss Energy City framework. Some local authorities have indicated that they are willing to pursue more ambitious goals. Meanwhile, recent results from the Renewable Liechtenstein and wider Lake Constance research projects have shown that energy autonomy is achieveable by the Principality, but results were only supported by technical measures of achieving this. In order to determine the capacity for local governments to pursue energy autonomy through the governance of urban development, this dissertation employed an energy autonomy evaluation framework that was supported by reviews of legislation and strategies, and three decision-makers workshops. The local energy autonomy evaluation framework was developed based on expert surveys and case analyses. The final framework comprised of six main factors: local government leadership, awareness of energy autonomy issues and potentials, local government discretion, energy potentials models, organisational change and augmentation, and the role of the national government. This is not a technical framework but one that looks at energy autonomy as a comprehensive process that encompasses education, economy, environment, politics and people. Used to analyse both the Principality of Liechtenstein and its municipality of Balzers, it yielded several important findings.