Sustainable Urban Forms

TLDR

The article defines sustainable urban forms and their design concepts. The study examines whether different urban forms contribute variably to sustainability and proposes a Matrix of Sustainable Urban Form to aid planners in assessing these contributions. The authors conducted a thematic analysis of the extensive sustainable development and environmental planning literature. The analysis identified seven design concepts—compactness, sustainable transport, density, mixed land uses, diversity, passive solar design, and greening—and four sustainable urban form types: neotraditional development, urban containment, compact city, and eco‑city.

Abstract

This article identifies sustainable urban forms and their design concepts. In addition, it addresses the question of whether certain urban forms contribute more than others to sustainability. A thematic analysis has been used to coop with the vast body of sustainable development and environmental planning literature. The analysis identifies seven design concepts related to sustainable urban forms: compactness, sustainable transport, density, mixed land uses, diversity, passive solar design, and greening. Moreover, it identifies four types of sustainable urban forms: the neotraditional development, the urban containment, the compact city, and the eco-city. Finally, this article proposes a Matrix of Sustainable Urban Form to help planners in assessing the contribution of different urban forms to sustainability.