Designing High-Density Cities: For Social and Environmental Sustainability

Compact living is sustainable living. High-density cities can support closer amenities, encourage reduced trip lengths and the use of public transport and therefore reduce transport energy costs and carbon emissions. High-density planning also helps to control the spread of urban suburbs into open lands, improves efficiency in urban infrastructure and services, and results in environmental improvements that support higher quality of life in cities. Encouraging, even requiring, higher density urban development is a major policy and a central principle of growth management programmes used by planners around the world. However, such density creates design challenges and problems. A collection of experts in each of the related architectural and planning areas examines these environmental and social issues, and argues that high-density cities are a sustainable solution. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in sustainable urban development.

Table of Contents:
Part I: An Understanding of High Density 1. Understanding Density and High Density 2. Is the High Density the Only Option? 3 The Sustainability of High Density 4. Density and Urban Sustainability : An Exploration of Critical Issues Part II: Climate and High Density Design 5. Climate Changes Brought About By Urban Living 6. Urbanization and City Climate: A Diurnal and Seasonal Perspective 7. Urban Climate in Dense Cities Part III: Environmental Aspects of High Density Design 8. Thermal Comfort Issues and Implications in High Density Cities 9. Urban Environment Diversity and Human Comfort 10. Designing for Urban Ventilation 11. Natural Ventilation in High Density Cities 12. Sound Environment: High vs Low Density Cities 13. Designing for Daylighting 14. Designing for Waste Minimization in High Density Cities 15. Fire Engineering for Density Cities 16. Role of Urban Greeneries in High Density Cities 17. Energy in High Density Cities 18. Environmental Assessment: Shifting Scales Part IV: High Density Spaces and Living 19. The Social and Psychological Issues of High-Density City Space 20. Sustainable Compact City and High Rise Building 21. Micro-climate in Public Housing - an Approach to Environment in Community Development 22. Designing for High Density Living: High rise, High Amenity & High Design

About the Author :
Edward Ng is a Professor at the School of Architecture, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an environmental consultant to organizations and governments.

Review :
'A distinctive and comprehensive selection of conceptual ideas covering the 'art and science' of sustainable city design.' Khee-Poh Lam, Professor of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University, USA 'Designing High-Density Cities is a unique contribution. It is an excellent overview of the state of the art on design process for cities presenting high densities. The book is an outcome of long standing research in the area of urban sustainability and includes contributions from internationally acclaimed researchers and building scientists. This is a valuable reference not only for academics but also for architects and practitioners.' Matheos Santamouris, Professor of Energy Physics, University of Athens, Greece 'An outstanding collection of papers on a key issue in planning today. Starting with the essentials of high density building, this book then explores the complex relations of high-density metropolitan areasi? It goes without saying that the combination of such important themes fills a gap in our knowledge and that no planner can ignore this book' Tejo Spit, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, Utrecht University, The Netherlands 'At first glance this may not seem to be a text book for urban designers but I wish that it had been available when I was working on large projects in Hong Kong... the twenty two contributors to this book comprehensively cover the gamut of issues of building at high densities, the growth of mega cities and their environmental consequences.' Urban Design, Issue 115, 2010