PLANNING AND ENGAGEMENT ARENAS FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY LANDSCAPES

The PEARLS project partnership is formed by 13 partners, 5 universities (Seville, Lisbon, Trento, Thessaloniki and Haifa) and 8 non-academic organisations) from Southern European countries.

As an active key actor in the spatial planning and social innovation arena for Renewable Energy Landscapes (REL), the PEARLS project will reinforce the population’s commitment to secure, clean and efficient energy. REL are regarded as spaces where renewable energies change the population’s relationship with energy and their landscape perception. Despite all efforts, resistance to REL lingers in Europe, while the reasons for strong social acceptance in Mediterranean and South American countries are still unknown. The PEARLS project will focus on Southern European countries and Israel due to their wealth of renewable energy resources and citizens’ deep engagement with REL.

Consortis will be involved in WP2 which is entitled “Sustainable Implementation: Policies and Practices” and Consortis Geospatial will take part in WP4 which is entitled “Spatial planning and Analysis”. WP2’s core objective is to facilitate a better understanding of legal frameworks and daily practice in the implementation of renewable energy landscapes. Legal frameworks include energy policy, land use planning and landscape practice regulations. WP4’s objective is twofold, namely: (a) the efficient transferring of knowledge and enhancement of skills related to renewable energy resources’ spatial planning/analysis and decision making methods, processes and tools and (b) the development and the application of methodologies and tools in sustainable energy planning enhancing the active public participation and involvement.