Abstract
Energy usage in cities is intertwined with its spatial configuration—the denser and more compact the city, the more concentrated and efficient the energy usage is to be expected. To achieve sustainable communities, cities (and their inhabitants) must reconsider its spatial configurations in the context of rapid urbanisation and growth in light of limited resources and conflicting spatial claims. This article seeks to understand how spatial configurations affect transport energy usage in cities and propose an integrated assessment approach factoring spatial configurational analysis in relation to transport energy usage at the micro- and macroscale. Comparing Bergen, Norway, and Zürich, Switzerland, findings showed that spatial configurations were positively correlated to transport energy usage. Street structures suitable for walking and less suitable for car traffic tended to exhibit lower amounts of energy usage. Following this, nine typologies of transport and land use patterns are described to support planning for more sustainable means of transport.
Highlights
Challenges to sustainable development in the form of rapid urbanisation and the emergence of very dense megacities and metropolises have increased pressure on land use and transportation networks and corresponding energy resource limitations [1]
Our findings showed that the relationship between spatial configuration and transport energy usage depends on the various degrees of inter-accessibility at various scale levels, from the local scale to the city-wide scale
Statistical correlation between spatial configurations and transport energy usage indicate a positive relationship between all variables for Zürich and Bergen with the exception of segment integration at local scale for Bergen
Summary
Challenges to sustainable development in the form of rapid urbanisation and the emergence of very dense megacities and metropolises have increased pressure on land use and transportation networks and corresponding energy resource limitations [1]. The need to maintain a feasible level of service in the transportation network while ensuring liveability increases with mounting difficulties. Urban planners and city managers have to balance the need for efficient traffic flow and increased network capacity as urban areas increase in size while ensuring that they still function at a human scale to offer accessibility to all. In addition to the challenges of complexity and competition for space, the global threat of climate change has led to an escalating urgency to reduce our ecological footprint and make responsible choices regarding our decisions and the goods and services we use. It is important to reconsider how we assess and structure our cities to make them less car-oriented and translate this into actionable knowledge for sustainable development
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