SEMANTIC TOOLS FOR CARBON REDUCTION IN URBAN PLANNING Co-funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme About SEMANCO Project Objectives While many cities in Europe and in the world have issued climate change policies and  set targets for reduction of CO2 emissions, their implementation in urban planning  practice remains a major challenge. Devising effective decision systems which support  CO2 emissions reduction demands a systems approach which enables different actors -  policy makers, planners, engineers, consultants, and inhabitants- to correlate a  diversity of problems, spanning across distinct domains and geographic scales.  The technological approach of SEMANCO is based on the integration of energy related  open data structured according to  standards, semantically modelled and interoperable  with a set of tools for visualizing, simulating and analysing the multiple relationships  between the factors determining CO2 production. A Semantic Energy Information  Framework (SEIF) will be developed to model the energy-related knowledge planners  and decision makers need. The tools interoperating with the framework will support  systems innovation and include available technologies, enhancements to existing open  source platforms,  and new technological solutions.   The tools and methods to be developed in SEMANCO will enable:  • Structuring energy related data held in distributed sources and diverse formats  • Classifying buildings for energy analysis   • Visualising urban energy consumption   • Assessing different methods of reducing CO2 emissions  • Predicting future energy demand   • Providing appropriate energy indicators for local authorities  The development of the tools and methods will be informed by three case study  scenarios in Spain, UK and Denmark which will cover three geographical scales -  neighbourhood, municipal and regional- including both existing and new urban areas.  Analysis requirements carried out at each case study will identify the relevant  indicators and the interrelationship between factors contributing to CO2 production in  the analysed urban areas. Based on this analysis, tools and methods will be developed  as the project progress. Their application within the cases of study will demonstrate  quantifiable and significant reduction of energy consumption and CO2 emissions  achieved through ICT and will make it possible to assess their social impact.   The results derived from the application of the methods and tools developed in the  project to the case study scenarios are expected to contribute:  • to foster the use of standards in energy data modelling,   • to formulate verifiable methods to measure energy performance   • to promote the participation of multiple stakeholders in carbon reduction  planning  • to provide inputs for future EU policy development