Abstract
Densification is a sustainable urbanization strategy for reducing per capita environmental impacts facilitating the achievement of sustainable cities as outlined in the sustainable development goals. We have developed a methodology for assessing sustainable densification potentials at a national scale based on urban structure units and perform an analysis for residential Switzerland. In contrast to single-building assessments, our methodology allows a differentiated spatial identification and evaluation of entire neighbourhoods. We focus on urban post-war neighbourhoods, which are of key importance for realising sustainable densification. Depending on the chosen methodological assumptions, between 1.1 - 1.6 million people are currently living in post-war neighbourhoods in Switzerland. We further classify post-war neighbourhoods into different geographical centrality classes to evaluate the suitability for densification from a sustainability point of view. We have calculated a first estimate of densification potentials of postwar neighbourhoods, i.e. the number of additional inhabitant which could be accommodated, across a range of density values. We estimate, that densifying post-war neighbourhoods to a minimum density value of 200 inhabitants per hectare building zone would enable the accommodation of an additional 4 – 10% of today’s Swiss population. More than half of this potential is located in central or very central urbanised geographical locations and thus most interesting from a sustainability point of view.
Highlights
Building sustainable cities, as set in the Sustainable Development Goal number 11 by the United Nations [1], requires sustainable urbanization and a reduction of per capita environmental impacts of living in cities
We have developed a methodology for assessing sustainable densification potentials at a national scale based on urban structure units and perform an analysis for residential Switzerland
In this paper, we propose a methodology for the spatial explicit assessment of sustainable densification potentials which can be up-scaled to the national scale
Summary
As set in the Sustainable Development Goal number 11 by the United Nations [1], requires sustainable urbanization and a reduction of per capita environmental impacts of living in cities. The reduced resource efficiency due to urban sprawl leads to environmental problems such as increasing per capita greenhouse gas emissions. Densification ( urban consolidation or redensification) is put forward as a strategy for the efficient use of limited living space and to realise compact cities as opposed to sprawling cities. Different types of densities can be distinguished [4] and the increase of inhabitants per area due to construction measures, i.e. structural densification, is only one aspect of densification. Whereas structural densification typically is the result of constructing additional living space for a given area by measures such as urban infill, replacement construction or roof-stacking, per capita living space can be reduced by other measures such as the moving of empty nesters [5]
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