Wouldn't this be safer than expecting the owners of a house to maintain one?
Similarly, you could have an air conditioning unit shared by many houses and maintained by the city.
For example, the article cited mentions that: "ADE estimates that 54 percent of energy used to produce electricity is being wasted via conventional power production, which relates to £9.5 billion ($US12.5 billion) per year." Siting housing next to power plants (and other plants with 'waste heat') is likely worth considering!
Helsinki has also central cooling system utilizing near-by Baltic sea. There is also yearly discussion about using the heating radiators for cooling. Unfortunately system is not designed for that and condensation will damage buildings.
I think I posted a comment here about a family friend who had two heating circuits, one for the house and one for a pool which was only used/heated in the summers.
Modern HVAC systems can be very efficient, use minimal materials, and require only electricity lines run between homes, for a considerably lower overall infrastructure cost and good efficiency compared to a district system with very extensive plumbing.