Towards low carbon cities: Spatio-temporal dynamics of urban form and carbon dioxide emissions

Abstract

Urban form as its compactness, complexity and centrality is increasingly being recognized by researchers for its potential role in the decreasing of CO2 emissions and sustainable urban development. The objective of this study is to quantify the relationship between CO2 emission and urban form, using panel data analysis for Iran's 15 cities from 2001 to 2015. Therefore, a series of urban form indicators were selected which were measured by applying spatial landscape metrics to remotely sensed data. The results of the study expressed a positive correlation between CO2 emission levels and the growth of urban areas. In addition, increased urban complexity represented a positive relationship with CO2 emissions and conversely, increased urban compactness led to reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. The findings of this research indicate that measures to make existing cities in northern Iran more compact may in fact help to decrease the CO2 emissions level, just as increasing fragmentation or increased complexity with respect to urban form may contribute to increase carbon dioxide emissions. Urban planners and decision makers should consider urban form to obtain significant reduction in CO2 emissions which subsequently leads to low carbon cities development in Iran.