SOLAR CITIES: UTOPIA OR POSSIBLE REALITY?

tries to give an answer to both questions, starting from an historical background. The degree of energy self-sufficiency of a city is discussed and its possible ways of evolution –in terms of structure, techniques and technologies, organisation, etc. – towards the solar city. The paper explores the possible technical and technological options suitable to a solar city in the near term, supported with examples, including architecture and town planning. An insight is also given into the social and cultural dimension of the transformation/mutation process leading to the new organism “solar city”: a dimension that is recognised as more critical than the technological one. The importance of concerted actions among the many actors involved –often with conflicting interests – is also discussed, and the importance of appropriate political actions, as well as the role of information. Within this context special attention is focused on the role of energy services providers, as key actors in the transformation process, and on the effects –on renewable energies diffusion – of the process of liberalisation of the energy market in industrialised countries. Finally, essential guidelines are given for local policy makers to drive a city towards its being “solar”. 1