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Sustainable urban design with an approach in sustainable urban development

Conference Paper · September 2017

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 Sustainable urban design with an approach in
sustainable urban development
Nazanin tangestanizadeh*, isa piri

1. Nazanin Tangestanizadeh, tangestanin@znu.ac.ir

2. Assisstant Professor in University of Zanjan, isapiri@znu.ac.ir

Abstract
Sustainability development that is the result of today’s human profound attention to
environmental damage as well as it is the emergence of social, cultural and economic
problem which has caused by industrial growth is a necessity which is inevitable in this
era. There is a strong relationship between urban design and sustainability, which led to
the development in the cities. The emergence of urban design knowledge is the result of
experts’ profound look at this knowledge that the quality of space is not accidental but
the result of conscious actions. At the same time, the idea of sustainable development
among decision-makers and thinkers was a fundamental and very important issue. The
Urban Development Strategy is a strategic approach that is now welcomed in many
countries around the world, especially developing countries. The present study uses an
interpretive and descriptive method to investigate the concepts of urban design and its
relation to sustainable development theory by adopting library studies to interpret and
link these two categories. The aim of this study is to investigate the dimensions of
sustainable urban development theory on knowledge urban design. In this research, it is
attempted to categorize the common goals of these two disciplines after defining each
topic of urban design and sustainable urban development. In order to reach the final
point of each, attention to other strategies and goals will lead to a more comprehensive
response to the needs of both nations.

Key words: urban, urban design, sustainable development, urban development

 1. Introduction
Urban design is the process of shaping the physical setting for life to deal with the three
dimensional space in cities, towns and villages, and its objective relies in accordance with the
vision of the future that they represent. Urban design involves coordinated and self-conscious
actions in designing new cities and other human settlements or redesigning existing ones and/or
their precincts in response to the needs of their inhabitants [1]. Support for sustainable urban
design has become more widespread in recent years and topics like livability and clean energy
attract considerable attention [2]. Urban design as a discipline gradually emerged throughout
the second half of the 20th century as part of a critique of the contemporary urban situation and
of the perceived failure of the established built environment profession- architecture, planning,
civil engineering, landscape, architecture and property professions- to deliver places of
“quality” [3].

Sustainable development as it pertains to urban design is mostly about the form of the built
environment. Jonathan Barnett [4] described urban design as the act of forming and designing
cities, not buildings; urban design is also defined as the “art of place-making, where place”
entails space, people, activity, and natural setting [5]. Cullen[6] defined urban design as the “art
of relationship” that symbiotically weaves together environmental elements such as buildings,
transportation infrastructure, and landscape. Urban design is, needed, more than the conversion
of physical territory into land uses; it is also a set of relationships controlled by technical and
socio-economic processes [7]. Mandanipour [8] defines urban design as the “multidisciplinary
activity of shaping and managing urban environments, interested in both the process of this
shaping and the space it helps shape”. In Good City Form, Lynch described urban design as a
discipline dealing with the form of built environments and added that which form a city should
take and which attributes shape its society are “ancient questions” [9]. There is a long history of
debate among urban designers over the ability forms of urban development to provide “better”
and more sustainable environments [10].

Major classical streams of thought on city form and urban life include the work of several
intellectuals whose work is both divergent and complementary [11]. Camillo Site [12] and
Edmund Bacon [13], whose work focused on good city design and the formal, artistic qualities
of space; Rowe and Koetter [14], who rejected the utopian ideas of total and comprehensive
planning and presented the “collage city”, which can accommodate a modest and miniature
form of planning; Norbert-Schulz [15], who stresses design to preserve indigenous, local
identity and history of place; Kevin Lynch[9], whose work emphasized patterns and scale, day
to day life or every day urbanism , and the “organic” growth of cities [16][17]. Debates between
these classical thinkers were embedded in the academy and focused on resolving city problems
to develop urban development theory.
Another group of experts conceives of sustainability as a combination of qualitative and
quantitative metrics and debates an integrative approach to sustainable urban forms and
metabolic analyses [10]. Burton [18] measured the compactness of several U.K towns: Ewing,
Pendall and Chen [19] developed a “numerical” index of sprawl for eighty-three U.S cities”
[20].

2. Sustainable urban design

Urban design, like architecture and planning represents a process, as well as a series of end
products, and an ongoing process through time that begins long before a development is
conceived and continues long after it is completed. Indeed, urban design is concerned above all
with the careful and ongoing stewardship of the built environment through a myriad of
contributions- public and private- only some of which concern the actual development of new
buildings and spaces. Thus, processes of urban maintenance, traffic management, town center
management, regeneration, planning and conservation, and individuals personalizing their own
properties, all impact on the quality and therefore collective public perceptions of particular
places [21]. In this regard, sustainable places are those where at all scales of development, these
ongoing processes of adaptation and change are positively channeled in an integrated manner
towards achieving a better quality built environment. This requires “taking a broad and long-
term view of the cost and benefits of any change, and understanding what makes towns and
cities sustainable” [22]. To achieve a more sustainable urban design, the aim should be to
reduce the lifetime environmental impact of any development by reducing the energy and
resources used and waste produced at each stage of the development life cycle – construction,
occupation and if necessary demolition. This can be achieved through reducing dependence on
the wider environment for resources and reducing pollution of the wider environment by waste
products – in other words by making any development both in its original construction, and
throughout its lifetime, as self-sufficient as possible [23]. Urban design is related to urban
planning, but it focuses more on the physical design of places and deals the more fine-tuned
scale and more detail design approaches [24].

The sustainable dimension of urban design has steadily emerged throughout and even before
this period. Many ideas about the interpenetration of town and country, for example, can be
traces back to the pioneers of the planning movement like Howard, Geddes and Unwin, as can
notions of local social and economic sustainability. Nevertheless, the recent proliferation of
writing on concepts of sustainable development has firmly shifted the urban design agenda
(like spatial planning with its more strategic focus) towards broader environmental concerns
[25]. Bentley [26] defined eight qualities which together cover the key issues for defining
places which are both ‘sustainable’ and ‘responsive’. At the same time the European
Commission’s Green Paper on the Urban Environment [27] emphasized the concept of ‘green
urban design’ and with it a set of broader concerns emphasizing the link between green urban
design and green planning processes to secure sustainable design across the different spheres of
influence. More recently the European Union updated thinking through the auspices of their
Working Group on Urban Design for Sustainability. Greatly expanding the agenda, they argued
that “sustainable urban design is a process whereby all the actors involved work together
through partnerships and effective participatory processes to integrate functional,
environmental, and quality considerations to design, plan and manage a built environment that”
[28].

- Is beautiful, distinctive, secure, healthy and which fosters a strong sense of pride, social
equity, cohesion, and identity

- Supports a vibrant, balances, inclusive and equitable economy

- Treats land as a precious resource; reusing land, promoting compactness at a human scale and
concentrated decentralization regionally

- Supports city regions as a functioning integrated networks and systems, with an integrated
view of the urban and regional landscape

- Strategically locates new development to address resource conservation, biodiversity, public

health needs and public transport efficiency

- Promotes mixed use development to maximize the benefits of proximity, vitality, security and
adaptability of the built form.

3. Sustainable development
Sustainability, first defined over 45 years ago, is widely accepted as an important conceptual
framework within which to position urban policy and development, providing the context for a
considerable literature on planning, architecture and urban design [29]. There are about 200
definitions for sustainable development, but the definition of sustainable development is still
not clear [30]. The review of definitions of sustainable development often presents the issues
and problems that sustainable development should respond to, but the endpoints seem so broad
that there is not a specific point of resolution. [31]. On the other hand, a dynamic urban
structure is required with diverse adaptability fused with a positive development from the
internal resources of urban space and autonomy. The concept of sustainability has been
introduced to combine concern for the well-being of the planet with continuous growth and
human development. Though there is much debate as to what the word actually suggests, we
can view the definition offered by the World Commission on Environment and Development:
"Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to
meet their own needs." In its original context, this definition was stated solely from the human
point of view. In order to include the idea of essential value, the meaning must be expanded to
allow all parts of nature to meet their own needs - now and in the future. Designing for
sustainable development requires awareness of the full short and long-term consequences of
any transformation of the environment, social and economy [32]. In 1972 during the United
Nations Conference on the Human Environment, the concept of sustainable development was
brought out in Stockholm. That sustainable development as a concept was developed alongside
an acute awareness that the ecological destruction and the 1980s ‘retreat from social concerns’
– manifested as poverty, deprivation and urban dereliction that blight many parts of the world –
are untenable. [33]

4. Towards Sustainable Design Principle

Whilst space does not permit a debate about what sustainable development is, or is not, a
number of commonly agreed tenets can be identified in the literature that underpin notions of
sustainable develop. These include:

- Futurity - because we owe future generations an environment at least as rich and opportunities
at least as good as those available today;

- Environmental diversity - because maintenance and enhancement of various forms of natural

capital underpin notions of sustainability;

- Carrying capacity - because by remaining within the carrying capacity of environments,

activities can be accommodated in perpetuity;

- The precautionary principle - because environmental impacts are by their nature uncertain and
because prevention is better than cure;

- Equity / quality of life - because sustainability extends to the needs of people in that
environments which fail to meet human needs and in which resources are poorly shared are
unlikely ever to be sustainable;

- Local empowerment - because sustainability is a process as much as an objective, requiring

the acquiescence and preferably the active involvement of communities;

- The polluter pays - because those responsible should pay for the consequences of their actions
[34].
5.The concept of sustainable development in cities
The concept of sustainable development was introduced in the World Conservation Strategy,
jointly issued in 1980 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the
United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It was
officially introduced in our Common Future, issued by the United Nations World Commission
on Environment and Development in 1987, which defines it as development that meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. In 1997, the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China defined
sustainable development strategy as a strategy that “must be implemented in the modernization
construction” of china. In 2000, the government prepared the Whitepaper on China’s
Population, Environment and development in the 21st Century, which for the first time
incorporated sustainable development into the long-term planning of China’s economic and
social development.

Scholars in China and abroad have various opinions on sustainable development in cities. There
is general agreement, however, that sustainable development in cities is achieved by
coordinated development of economy, society, environment, population, and resources in an
urban system. The key findings of Chinese and international research are as follows.

1. Sustainable development in cities is the coordinated development of three key systems:

environment, economy, and society. These systems provide the foundations, conditions, and
purpose of sustainable development in cities. Sustainable development in cities maintains
harmony among social progress, environmental support, and economic development. It is
achieved by improving environmental quality, social equity, and economic benefits. The
sustainability of development in cities is reflected in the sustainability of resource and urban
systems.

2. Sustainable development in cities must be based on sustainable urban organization and

administration. Sustainable development can be achieved only by sustainable social
organization and municipal administration. In the context of sustainable development in cities,
urban communities must be provided with municipal rubbish administrations.

3. Sustainable cities must have adequate space to freely develop and change their structure
toward increasingly sustainable development. Sustainable development in cities is a changing
process in which the number of cities grows from small to large, the scale of cities develops
from low to high level, and structure of cities develops from dissonance to harmony and from
non-sustainability to sustainability. Sustainable development in cities is the combined
development of cities at the micro, intermediate, and macro levels [35].
6. The theory of sustainable urban development
Until the early 1990s, less subjects from sustainable development literature was concentrated
on cities or urban development patterns. But in the following years, architects and urban
planners began to notice that what use sustainability in a special feature could have in the urban
development model. Some writers emphasized urban design and physical planning. Others
focused on environmental planning considerations and emphasized on factors such as the
quality of climate, water and natural systems, and finally some emphasized the need for
attention to social issues and injustices in human societies and believe that social and
environmental issues are closely interlinked. The theory of sustainable urban development is
the result of environmental advocacy discussions on environmental issues, especially urban
environments, who sought sustainable development theory to support environmental resources.
Urban sustainable development requires identification of environmental constraints for human
activities in relation to cities and the implementation of design methods in these constraints
[36].

7. Solutions to a sustainable city

The truth is sustainable city cannot be accurately portrayed and therefore identify its solutions.
Because, on the one hand, the sustainability from the global scale to the local scale (which is
the city on this scale) is correlated, and on the other hand, there are still contradictory theories
over the consequences and processes of many development actions. Nonetheless, here, it is
attempted to identify the most important solutions agreed by the majority of experts in urban
planning and management [37]

Reduced dependency on the vehicle (especially the private car)

Increased physical compression in urban development

Conservation and restoration of natural systems in the city and surrounding area

Reducing resource consumption and pollution production in the city and its related area

Improving viability of urban communities

Sustain and strengthen the urban economy

Reforming the city’s administrative and governance system

 Table 1: Urban design with sustainable development approach

Urban design Sustainable city

Identity

Beauty

Common Citizen participation (a city for all citizen)

View

. Establishing an effect management system to achieve economic,

social and environmental goals
goals Readability
. Driving urban technology toward sustainable development goals

. Reduce the use of resources

Completing
. Minimizing waste and domestic and industrial waste

. Reducing the share of energy in urban growth

Vitality
. Increasing economic and social opportunities

. Strengthening urban areas to prevent or respond to threats and

economic, social and environmental objectives

. The relationship of man with his environment and the interaction of the two
through the creation of the possibility of recognition and this oneness with space

. To institutionalize the sense of belonging by creating practical partnerships and

removing the indifference of man with his environment
common . A space that will have a positive effect on human psyche, facilitate spatial
Solutions experience and be effective in interactive emotional relationships.

The city’s prospect, based on the criteria and capabilities of each city, requires
different solutions to achieve it.
 . Relying on the authenticity of each place and . Sustain and strengthen the
the sense of location of that position urban economy

. Physical compression
increasing in urban
. Not using designs with plain and uniform development
grids
. improving the livability of
urban communities
. Crating differences, uncertainties, even . reducing the reliance on the
completing contradictions and new and upcoming ones car (especially the private car)
in the moving

. The desired variety should have the . conservation and restoration

desirability that prevents anxiety in the citizen, of natural systems in the city
so that it is neither uniform nor confusing and surrounding area

. reducing the source

consumption and creating
pollution in the city

. reforming the city’s

administrative and governance
system

Resource: Safari, 2013 [37]

8. Acknowledgment
Through the analysis in thos paper, it can be concluded that in accordance with the components
of architecture and urbananism (urban design) with sustainability approach, it should be paid
attention to the topic of sustainable development in order to realize sustainable design.
Fundamentally, good urban design is sustainable, but as the paper has shown this depends on
urban design goals. Because general goals depend on the human needs of all cities and specific
purposes depend on regional conditions and urban potentials. It is also important to recognise
that sustainable urban design is just part of the broader sustainable development agenda that
seeks to create sustainable places. New urban design principles, in combination with
sustainable development theories, can provide smart models and a standards of optimal quality
in order to simultaneously respond to environmental, social, economic issues and human life
goals in the city. From the findings of this knowledge and approach, we can use the topic of
“urban design with a sustainable development approach” to name this theory. Favorable urban
design leads to the economic added value in the form of upgrading monetary value, increasing
the exchange value of assets, increasing the useful life of projects, and continuing use and
development with a rising trend for citizens. It is nevertheless vital that the contribution of good
design is fully recognised in both the theories and practice of sustainable development. The
achievements of urban design theory with a sustainable development approach are not only
expensive and not affordable, but it seems that it is possible to rely on the balance of cost-
benefit to provide the necessary economic incentive for investment in this field.
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