Resistance and effect – on smart grids for the many people

Collaboration with Chalmers, Linköping University, KTH and Uppsala University

Funded by Familjen Kamprads forskningsstiftelse

This is a 5-years research program including researchers from Lund University, Chalmers, Linköping University, KTH and Uppsala University. The overall objective of the research program is to:
● create awareness about and thus pave the way for the smart grid's relevance to different social actors, especially those who have not been involved in research efforts or involved in the development and implementation of the same (for example, households) so far.
● Increase societal benefits by including more perspectives in the continued understanding and development of the Smart grid phenomenon.

The sub-project at IIIEE will focus “The role of smart grid in municipal urban development”. This sub- project aims to investigate the planning and participation processes that occur at the municipal and city district level. Research on the development and integration of smart grids in urban development tends to focus on either quantitative results according to set goals, or on process-related aspects such as deliberation, co-creation or vision building. In this research project we intend to include both those and include concrete results as well as process-related aspects. The project includes both greenfield and brownfield areas, as both problems and involved actors differ in those.

The first part of the project aims to provide a national and international knowledge overview of barriers for the development of smart, sustainable urban-level grids and the role of planning processes in bridging these barriers. In the second part of the project, we study a number of specific planning processes where smart grids play a major role.