Compact City
There is a widespread consensus
that progress towards sustainable development is essential. Human activity
cannot continue to use resources at the present rate without jeopardizing
opportunities for future generations. Cities are the main arena of human
activity, but they are also the greatest consumers of natural resources.
However, urban sustainability is not just about environmental concerns, it
is also about economic viability, liveability and social equity. Recently,
much attention has focused on the relationship between urban form and
sustainability, the suggestion being that the shape and density of cities
can have implications for their future. From this debate, strong arguments
are emerging that the compact city is the most sustainable urban form.
Compact City is a high density urban settlement
that has the following main characteristics:
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Central area revitalisation |
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High-density development |
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Mixed-use development |
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Services and facilities: hospitals, parks, schools,
leisure and fun |
In recent years city planners, developers and
policymakers have increasingly looked towards designing a more compact
city in order to achieve a more sustainable urban form.
Policies
of urban compaction involve the promotion of urban regeneration, the revitalisation
of town centers, restraint on development in rural areas, higher
densities, mixed-use development, promotion of public transport and the
concentration of urban development at public transport nodes. There
are many perceived benefits of the compact city over urban sprawl, which
include: less car dependency thus lower emissions, reduced energy
consumption, better public transport services, increased overall
accessibility, the re-use of infrastructure and previously developed land,
a regeneration of existing urban areas and urban vitality, a higher
quality of life, the preservation of green space, and the creation of a
milieu for enhanced business and trading activities. As sustainable
development relies upon the combination of economic, social and
environmental elements. The following are some
of the issues that should be addressed for the compact city to show
improvements across all three spheres.
Connected Centres of
Social and Commercial Activities
The creation of the modern
Compact City demands the rejection of single-function development and the
dominance of the car. The issues to be addressed are:
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how to design cities in
which communities thrive and mobility is increased |
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how to design for personal
mobility without allowing the car to undermine communal life |
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how to design for and
accelerate the use of clean transport systems and re-balance the use of
our streets in favour of the pedestrian and the community |
The Compact City addresses
these issues because it grows around centres of social and commercial
activity located at public transport nodes. These provide the focal points
around which neighbourhoods develop. The Compact City is a network of these
neighbourhoods, each with its own parks and public spaces and accommodating
a diversity of overlapping private and public activities. London’s historic
structure of towns, villages, squares and parks is typical of a polycentric
pattern of development. Most importantly, these neighbourhoods bring work
and facilities within convenient reach of the community, and this proximity
means less driving for everyday needs. In large cities, Mass transit systems
can provide high-speed cross-town travel by linking one neighbourhood centre
with another, leaving local distribution to local systems. This reduces the
volume and impact of through traffic, which can be calmed and controlled,
particularly around the public heart of neighbourhoods. Local trains, light
railway systems and electric buses become more effective, and cycling and
walking more pleasant. Congestion and pollution in the streets are
drastically reduced and the sense of security and conviviality of public
space is increased.
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Sustainable Compact Cities
could reinstate the city as the ideal habitat for a community-based society.
It is an established type of urban structure that can be interpreted in all
manner of ways in response to all manner of cultures. Cities should be about
the people they shelter, about face-to-face contact, about condensing the
ferment of human activity, about generating and expressing local culture.
Whether in a temperate or an extreme climate, in a rich or poor society, the
long-term aim of sustainable development is to create a flexible structure
for a vigorous community within a healthy and non-polluting environment.
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Proximity, the provision of
good public space, the presence of natural landscape and the exploitation of
new urban technologies can radically improve the quality of air and of life
in the dense city. Another benefit of compactness is that the countryside
itself is protected from the encroachment of urban development. The
concentration of diverse activities, rather than the grouping of similar
activities, can make for more efficient use of energy. The Compact City can
provide an environment as beautiful as that of the countryside.
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The whole premise of the
Compact City is that interventions trigger further opportunities for
efficiency. A Compact City composed of overlapping activities, for instance,
is more convivial and can reduce the need for car journeys, which in turn
dramatically reduces the energy used for transportation - usually a quarter
of a city’s overall energy consumption. Fewer cars mean less congestion and
better air quality, which in turn encourages cycling and walking rather than
driving. Better air quality makes opening windows to fresh air more
attractive than turning on filtered air-conditioners.
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There are other important
environmental advantages to a compact form of city that has fewer roads but
more landscaped public spaces. Parks, gardens, trees and other landscaping
provide vegetation that shades and cools streets, courtyards and buildings
in summer. Cities are generally 1-20C warmer than their
hinterland. The overall effect of rich urban landscaping is to reduce the
heat 'bloom' of cities, measurably reducing the need for air-conditioning.
Plants dampen noise levels and filter pollution, absorb carbon dioxide and
produce oxygen - further factors that reduce the need for air-conditioning
to supply cooled fresh air to buildings in what would otherwise be hot and
polluted urban areas. Urban landscape absorbs rain, reducing the discharge
of urban rainfall and storm water. Landscape plays an important
psychological role in the city and can sustain a wide diversity of urban
wildlife.
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Reduced Waste of
Energy
A Compact City reduces the
waste of energy. Generating electric power produces hot water as a
by-product, which in conventional power plants is simply wasted. Local
Combined Heat and Power plants (CHPs) can be used both to distribute
electricity and, due to their proximity, to pipe hot water directly into
buildings. This can more than double the efficiency of conventional urban
power distribution. City rubbish, which is usually either dumped as landfill
or incinerated, both with polluting effects, can be burned by local CHPs and
supply up to 30 per cent of a community’s energy needs. In a city that
combines a variety of activities, it is easier to transfer waste heat from
one activity to another. Excess heat generated by offices, for example, is
usually dissipated into the environment, but it can be reused in hospitals,
homes, hotels or schools if they are reasonably close.
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Human waste that is rich in
nutrients is currently discharged in such high concentrations that it
poisons the environment. It can instead be recycled to produce methane fuel
pellets and fertilizers. Grey water can be filtered through natural systems
on site and be re-used for irrigation of urban landscape or to restock local
aquifers. Experimental sewerage treatment schemes that discharge their waste
below industrial forestry have been shown both to increase the growth rate
of the forests, woods and parks and to restock local aquifers with purified
water. Clean water is recognised as the critical resource of the coming
millennium, and we must develop systems that maximise the efficiency of its
use.
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Compact City Issues
The following are some of the
issues that need to be addressed by planners and policy makers for a
successful Compact City:
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What next when a compact
city achieves its highest possible density? |
| Compact City implications for individual lifestyles |
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The link between
city compactness and social equity: Sustainable development involves more
than just environmental conversation; it embraces the need for equity.
Both intra-generational equity providing for the needs of the least
advantaged in society, and inter-generational equity, ensuring a fair
treatment of future generations need to be considered. |
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Equity and community issues: The urban
periphery, doughnuts of deprivation, social inclusion / exclusion, crime
and security issues |
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Urban management and safety |
| Industry structure and the redistribution of population |
| Family size, lifestyle, culture etc. effect on dwelling
/ building size, type and design, housing needs, relocation and
transaction costs, health, education infrastructure, facilities and
services etc. |
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Compact City implications for
politicians / planners: health issues, education, communication,
information systems, industrial, etc. |
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The effect of
intensification/decentralization on the increase/decrease in urban
vibrancy:
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Town centers
offering more cultural and entertainment facilities, because of the
concentration of retail and employment activities. |
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More neighbors,
as well as neighbors of increasingly diverse socio-economic backgrounds
effects on local identity or a sense of community. |
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Safety due to
security cameras, increased policing and the concentration of
entertainment facilities in the town center. |
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Profitability of
business and trading activities, such as entertainment facilities,
restaurants, bars and clubs. |
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The effect of
compactness on the need to travel and feasibility of public transport,
thus reducing emissions and contributing to environmental sustainability. |
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The effect of
compactness on the
efficiency of services, such as public
transport, sewers and rubbish collection etc. |
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The impact of
intensification policies on the urban landscape. |
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The ‘environmental
clash’ between housing, industry and traffic that can no longer be solved
through the traditional methods of placing distance between
‘environmentally intrusive activities’ and ‘environmentally sensitive
areas’ through zoning. As a result of its mixed-use and compaction
ideologies the compact city policy makes it difficult to solve
environmental conflicts by keeping a sufficient distance between intrusive
forces and environmentally sensitive areas, activities and functions. |
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Rogers, R. and Gumuchdjian, P., 1997, Cities for Small
Planet, Faber and Faber Limited, ISBN: 0-571-17993-2, London
Jenks, M., Burton, E. and Williams, K. (Editors), 1996,
The Compact City: A Sustainable Urban Form?, Spon Press; ISBN:
0419213007
de Roo, G. and Miller, D. (Editors), 2000, Compact
Cities and Sustainable Urban Development: A Critical Assessment of Policies
and Plans from an International Perspective (Urban Planning and Environment),
Ashgate Publishing Limited, ISBN: 0754615375
Elkin, T.,
McLaren, D. and Hillman, M., 1991, Reviving the City: towards sustainable
urban development, London
Williams, K., Burton E. and Jenks, M.,
2000, Achieving Sustainable Urban Form, London
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Connected Centres
Community-Based
Society
Proximity
Overlapping
Rich Landscaping
Reduced Energy
Recycled Waste
Issues
References
Related Web Sites |
