In this work a method for integrated strategic heating and cooling planning applicable for any city or region is presented and applied for the case study city of Brasov. The overall methodology comprises the calculation of the cost-optimal combination of heat savings with either district heating or individual supply technologies for different building groups located in different areas according to the availability of a current district heating network. This optimal combination is calculated for different scenarios and framework conditions, and different indicators like total system costs, total CO2 emissions, share of renewables etc. are calculated and compared to analyse the economic efficiency as well as the CO2 reduction potentials of various options to save heat and supply heat in the buildings. The results of the assessment show that in the assessed case study city heat savings of 58-78% are cheaper than all assessed heat supply options for the different building groups but that renewable supply options are not the most economical alternatives per se under stated conditions. The presented integrated planning process reveals that long term planning is essential to reach decarbonisation goals and that current framework conditions should be adapted to generate more favourable conditions for renewable heating systems. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.