Eco efficiency of urban form and transportation

Irmeli Wahlgren, MScTech, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Urban Impact Assessment, Finland

Keywords

urban form, urban planning, transportation, greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, eco efficiency, ecological impacts, ecological balance, assessment methods, climate, land use, housing, urban sprawl, environmental impacts, sustainable communities

Abstract

Urban planning and transportation system solutions and decisions have a large-scale significance for eco efficiency, the consumption of energy and other natural resources, the production of greenhouse gas and other emissions, and the costs caused by communities.

Planning solutions may impact on greenhouse gas emissions by 10 % at regional level, by 20 % at local community level and even by 200 % at local dwelling area level. Impact on emissions caused by transportation is even bigger: at least double compared to the impact on total emissions. Similarly large impacts can be seen concerning consumption of energy and other natural resources as well as costs.

The most important factors in sustainable urban and transportation planning are at dwelling area level: location, structure, building density, house types, space heating systems, at community and regional level: area density, energy consumption and production systems, location of and distances between dwellings, working places and services, transportation systems, possibilities of walking and cycling, availability of public transport, and necessity for use of private cars.

The presentation is based on the author’s research and case studies from 1992 to 2006. The assessment method EcoBalance was developed to assess sustainability of communities and it has been applied at different planning levels: regional plans, local master plans and detailed plans. The EcoBalance model estimates the total consumption of energy and other natural resources, the production of emissions and wastes and the costs caused directly and indirectly by communities on a life-cycle basis.

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