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Decoupling density from tallness in analysing the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions of cities

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Change log

Authors

Arehart, Jay H 
Gharavi, Niaz 
D’Amico, Bernardino  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1789-3688

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe UN estimate 2.5 billion new urban residents by 2050, thus further increasing global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and energy demand, and the environmental impacts caused by the built environment. Achieving optimal use of space and maximal efficiency in buildings is therefore fundamental for sustainable urbanisation. There is a growing belief that building taller and denser is better. However, urban environmental design often neglects life cycle GHG emissions. Here we offer a method that decouples density and tallness in urban environments and allows each to be analysed individually. We test this method on case studies of real neighbourhoods and show that taller urban environments significantly increase life cycle GHG emissions (+154%) and low-density urban environments significantly increase land use (+142%). However, increasing urban density without increasing urban height reduces life cycle GHG emissions while maximising the population capacity. These results contend the claim that building taller is the most efficient way to meet growing demand for urban space and instead show that denser urban environments do not significantly increase life cycle GHG emissions and require less land.</jats:p>

Description

Funder: JA also gratefully acknowledges the financial support for his time from the Temple Hoyne Buell Architectural Fellowship.

Keywords

33 Built Environment and Design, 3301 Architecture, 3304 Urban and Regional Planning, 13 Climate Action, 15 Life on Land

Journal Title

npj Urban Sustainability

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2661-8001
2661-8001

Volume Title

1

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Sponsorship
Edinburgh Napier University (N5088)
RCUK | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (EP/R01468X/1)
Royal Academy of Engineering (IAPP18-19\215)