Sustainable urban design: principles to practice

Abstract

This paper attempts to make the connection between the theory of sustainability and the practice of urban design. In doing so it draws from a wide body of literature to establish ten universal principles of sustainable urban design. These it relates to some of the widely accepted precepts of sustainable development. In linking theory to practice, consideration is given to how these principles impact across the range of different spatial scales: building, space, quarter and settlement-wide. The paper concludes by briefly examining how more sustainable patterns of design might be delivered and by whom. It argues that fundamentally good urban design is sustainable, but this implies much more than simply reducing energy use and carbon emissions. Instead, it implies a much more profound basis upon which to make decisions that impact on the social, economic and environmental sustainability of the built environment.