Abstract Integrated energy planning (IEP) plays vital role in the promotion of energy efficiency in large-scale building stock. IEP can facilitate the evaluation of energy supply and demand in current rural and urban areas for the proper allocation of available resources. This paper presents a comprehensive review of large-scale energy planning and a systematic review of the methods employed in urban and regional integrated energy planning (UR-IEP). To this effect, 234 models from 157 published papers have been collected, classified based on their aims and methodologies, and critically subjected to meta-analysis and SWOT table. Thus, this review propones a framework of the fundamental concepts in energy model design and detailed analysis to support decision-making. Further, it provides a clear comparison of the methods and characterises them based on seven basic criteria of energy models, including purpose, methodology, analytical approach, geographical coverage, mathematical approach, time horizon, and data requirements. This framework provides urban planners with accurate and helpful basis for the selection of appropriate IEP methods based on the most common-focused methods published between 1960 and 2018.