Integrating heritage conservation into urban building energy modelling for retrofit decision-making in historic districts

Historic urban buildings embody cultural memory but often struggle to meet contemporary energy performance standards. This study develops an Urban Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) framework that integrates heritage conservation constraints into neighbourhood-scale retrofit planning. Using Shanghai’s Wukang Road historic district as a case study, the research regulates retrofit strategies according to building function and conservation level. Buildings are classified into four distinct protection categories, each permitting different levels of intervention. Despite regulatory limitations, simulation results show substantial energy savings with up to 31% in cooling demand, 53% in heating and 25% in electricity use at the building level, with comparable trends across the district. The framework bridges quantitative energy modelling with qualitative heritage assessment and offers a replicable tool for balancing conservation imperatives and urban decarbonisation objectives. It supports planners and policymakers in making context-sensitive, evidence-based decisions and contributes to ongoing discourse on sustainable heritage management and climate-responsive urban transformation.