[17] An established modern city attempting to achieve net-zero status needs to assess seven key provisioning systems, for energy, transportation-communications, food, construction materials, water, green infrastructure, and waste-management.

[3][7] Approaches to sustainable urban planning of zero carbon cities increasingly emphasize the use of locally sourced food, energy, and renewable resources.

To be used as a framework for climate action, it must be operationalised and measured as part of the ongoing activities of social, political and economic systems.

[20] Scientists can measure ongoing changes in the global atmosphere and estimate carbon budgets, but identifying and operationalising interventions occurs at multiple levels worldwide.

As a frame of reference for decision-makers, global impact must be translated into definable targets for entities at national, subnational, corporate, organizational and individual levels.

Long-term goals must be translated into practical near-term actions, with detailed plans and methods for establishing baselines, measuring outcomes and assessing impacts.

[20][21] In many ways, cities are in a critical position to address climate issues effectively: they are large enough to benefit from economies of scale, and close enough to actual problems to focus on developing real implementable strategies.

Discussions of eco-cities tend to focus more broadly on social and environmental issues, with less emphasis on carbon monitoring and the necessity of reaching net zero energy balance.

[19] Many of the principles proposed for developing eco-cities are also relevant to net zero cities, including revising land use priorities to create sustainable mixed-use communities; revising transportation priorities to favor foot, bicycle, cart and public transit over automobiles; increasing environmental awareness; supporting local agriculture and community gardens; and promoting recycling and resource conservation.

[25] Urban areas involve essential infrastructure for energy, transport, water, food, shelter, construction, public spaces, and waste management.

Achieving net zero sustainability also means considering sources and production of materials, and ensuring that what comes into the city travels via zero-emission transport.

The last diesel and gasoline cars are expected to be produced in the 2020s, with 25% or more of all vehicles worldwide being electric by 2040 as fossil fuel prices rise.

[7] A narrow focus on electrifying vehicles can lead planners to overlook opportunities for increasing efficiency within existing systems.

[28][29] By gathering large diverse datasets and modelling the impact of possible interventions, planners hope to identify and target key aspects of energy use, air quality, and traffic for improvement.

By incorporating smart measurement technology into buildings, lighting, appliances and transportation, systems can better adapt to changing conditions, reduce energy consumption, and improve city services.

Increasingly following Europe and Asia, North Americans are switching from gas or electrical resistance stoves to induction cooking.

[33][34] The movement of food from producers to consumers also tends to involve major fossil-fuel costs, since many crops are grown far from their potential market and have a short shelf life.

Food production and supply chains are being increasingly destabilized by the effects of climate change on agriculture, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Incorporation of features such as solar panels, green roofs and walls, and heat pumps into new or existing buildings can significantly reduce energy use.

[7] Some recommend a four-storey multi-family building built of low-carbon higher density materials such as straw and wood as an ideal.

[64] Technologies for carbon capture and storage are being developed to mitigate emissions from fossil fuel power plants and industrial sources.

[7] As the second largest city in Zimbabwe, with an urban population between 680,000 and 1.5 million people, Bulawayo has gone through a period of rapid growth in the twentieth century; an economic decline in the first decade of the twenty-first century; and next a return to rapid growth that incorporates the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into the city's strategic plan.

[7][79] Over the last decade, Shanghai, China has implemented dozens of low carbon policies to reduce energy usage and address the effects of climate change.

These included using energy-saving materials, recycled materials and solar energy to construct new buildings; upgrading existing buildings to save energy; closing the existing coal plant; developing renewable energy sources (wind, solar, and biogas); converting buses to electric vehicles and adding foot and bicycle paths; recycling wastewater with low-carbon techniques; reusing wastes for organic fertilizer and biogas; and the development of forests and wetlands to sequester carbon.

Denver achieved this goal as a result of the passage of renewable portfolio standards by the State of Colorado and climate actions on the part of the city.

They determined that low-carbon actions focusing on efficiency and conservation would be insufficient to reduce GHG emissions at the levels desired.

Reasons for the project's closure include its proposed location in a highly-valued wetlands area, tensions between its development partners (Arup, a British engineering company, and Shanghai Industrial Investment, a state-owned developer), and loss of political support (due to the jailing of Dongtan's top political backer, former Shanghai Communist Party chief Chen Liangyu, on corruption charges in 2008).

The site was located close to Abu Dhabi and an international airport, connecting to surrounding communities through a transportation infrastructure of rail, road and public transit.

Transportation within the city was to use battery-powered and auto piloted personal rapid transit systems (PRT) as well as walking and cycling.

[103] In 2017, Masdar City completed a pilot project for an Eco-Villa, a 405 square-metre four-bedroom property[104] presented as an affordable net zero energy family home.