Compact City

Compact City
(High density with mixed uses)
Submitted by,
Robert Christofer A (2013803013)
Department of Planning
School of Architecture and Planning
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1.Introduction
 Why we need Compact City
 General Characteristics
2.Components of Compact City
3.Objectives, Sub themes and Research questions
4.Case studies
 Compact high density development in Hong Kong, China
 Compact city planning along the LRTS corridor, London, Great Britain
 Urban Compactness policy to achieving high density with mixing of
activities, Amsterdam, Netherland.
 Compact high density development Curitiba, Brazil
 Compact high density development, Ahmedabad, India.
5.Applicability of Compact City in Indian Context
6.Issues
7.Conclusion Drawn
8.References
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Synopsis

What is Compact City?
Introduction
 A compact city is an currently
emerged urban planning concept
 Promotes relatively High density
with mixing of various activities
 It provide required infrastructure
facilities with in the walkable
distance
 It is otherwise called as “City of
Short distance”
Source: http://www.dw.de/visions-of-shortdistance-cities
3/38

 Elkin (1991) said Compact city is the
“Intensification of the use of space in the city with
higher residential densities and centralisation”
 Newman and Kenworthy(1989) said “More intensive
land use, Centralised activities and higher densities”
 Breheny (in Blowers, 1993) said “High density,
mixed use city, where growth is encouraged
within the boundaries of existing urban areas ,
but with no development beyond its periphery”
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Compact City-View of authors

 Efficient usage of scarce land
 Reduces travel time between office and home
 Low wastage of precious sub-urban agricultural land
 Saving in per-capita infrastructure spending
 Lower per capita pollution
 Enables faster execution of planned development
 Integrated approach to solve the social problems arose.
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General characteristics of compact city

Current scenario-
Key issues
Increasing rate of private
mode of transportation
Un planned
development(Urban sprawl)
Reduction of per capita availability of land
(Source: Land degradation scenario report of India-2011)
GHG emission by private mode of
transportation
Source:http://knowledge.allianz.com/mobility/transportation_safety/whic
h-transport-methods-produce-most-emissions-india) (10 October 2012).
0.89
0.3
0.2
0
0.5
1
1900 1950 2000 2050 2100
LANDINHA
YEAR
Per capita availability of land in India
124.5
83
66.8
45.6
0 50 100 150
Cars
Bikes
City buses
Trains
Emission of GHG
Emission of GHG (grams/kilometre)
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Why we need compact city

Components
1.Centrality
2.Contiguity
3.Density
4.Intensity
5.Fine grain
6.Mobility and
Accessibility
 Base for differentiation in compact urban
patterns
 Creates various approaches
 Unity of urban functions in a continual form
 Contiguity between Open spaces and
buildings should be maintained in a
compact city
 Relatively high in nature
 Both population and dwelling units
 Revitalisation of urban centres
 Making the area more attractive and
accessible
 Relation between similar and dissimilar
activities
 Leads to clustered development
 Mode of transportation
 Easily accessibility results highest
mobility rate
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Components

Objectives
Main objective of this study is to learn
 Various concepts involved in the compact urban form.
 Effectiveness of mixing of activities to achieve the
high density.
 To assess the applicability of compact city concept in
Indian context
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Objectives, Sub themes & Research Questions

 High density with mixed land uses.
 Interconnection of streets and transport
corridors with a focus on pedestrian, bicycle
and public transport oriented planning.
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Sub themes

 How to introduce urban compactness concept in
our country?
 If the compact city can encourage private mode
of transportation?
 What are the common indictors to measure the
urban compactness in a city?
 What are the challenges(present and future)
while introducing the urban compactness
concept in India?
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Research hypothesis

Case study Issues identified Policies to over come the
issues
Out comes
Compact High
density
development in
Hong Kong, China
1. Mei Fu Shan
Chuen city
development
Hong Kong, China
2. Metro-City
Residential
Development,
Tseng Kwan O,
Hong Kong, China
 Increasing rate of
population
 Segregation of
various activities
 Land constraints
 Concept of verticality
 Concept of compactness
 High rise
development(30
stories to 60 stories)
 Accommodating
more people in the
same area
 Development along
transit corridors
 They achieved the
maximum density of
9,600 habitants per
and 2,048
households
perSq.Km
11/38
Case study-1

 The intensification and development along the
transit corridor is the major strategy
 To make a city with higher density with high rise and
mixed uses they go for sky scrapers and verticality.
 Transportation plays an important role.
 The urban compact form of Hong Kong mainly
reduce the ¼ to of the travel time.
 Intermingling of functions mainly based on the
site characteristics and potentials.
 Through urban densification they achieved the
maximum density of 9,600 habitants per Sq.Km
and 2,048 families per Sq.Km.
12/38
Inferences

Common indicators
 Access of public transport use
 Job accessibility
 Rate of non-motorised travel
 Housing affordability
 Level of car ownership
 Population of that area
 Health facilities
 Amount of living spaces
Based on the indicators they conducted survey
 To find whether the facilities are available or not
near by
 Then giving scores based on the availability of
indicators mentioned
 They have used weightage method (3 scales
and 5 scales weightage)
 Based on this scores they have found whether
the city is compact or not.
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Measuring urban compactness-Hong Kong

Measuring urban compactness
Dimension for
Compactness
Nature of Indicators Weightage
1.Density
Density of
population
Persons and households per hectare
(within administrative
district), and average of wards
(population-weighted).
1-5
Density of built
form
Persons and households per hectare
within built-up area and
Residential area of district.
1-5
Density of
housing
Percentage of housing stock made up
of higher- and lower density housing,
and small and large dwellings.
1-5
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Dimension for
Compactness
Nature of Indicators Weightage
2. Mix of uses
Provision of
facilities (balance of uses)
Quantity of 'key' facilities, ratio of
residential to non-residential
land, and frequency of newsagents.
1-3
Vertical mix of
uses
Incidence of mixed retail/residential and
commercial/residential
Development.
1-5 based on residential uses
Up to 60% --5
60%-50% --4
50%-40% --3
40%-30% --2
Below 20% --1
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3.Accessibility
Access to
superstores
Average distance to nearest
superstore, from all wards
1-5
More than 1000m --1
With in 1000m --2
500-1000m --3
250-500 --4
Below 250m --5
Access to green
space
Average distance to nearest green
space, from all wards,
1-5
Job accessibility Percentage of low -income employees
working outside the district, in absolute
and relative terms (compared with
high-income
groups)
1-5
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Public transport use Percentage of employees who travel to
work by public transport
1-3
Up to 60% --3
30-60% --2
Below 30% --1
Non-motorised
travel
Percentage of employees who travel to
work on foot or by bicycle, in absolute
terms and relative to high-income
employees
1-5
Up to 10% --1
10-20% --2
20-40% --3
40-55% --4
55-70% --5
Amount of
living space
Rooms per household (average, and for
three-person, low-income
households); extent of overcrowding;
inequality in housing size.
1-5
Based on the land availability
3.Accessibility cont...
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Job opportunities Number of jobs per relevantly
qualified economically active
resident, in absolute terms and
relative to high-income jobs
1-3
With in 250m --3
250-1000 m --2
>1000m --1
Affordable
housing
Average price of lower-cost
dwellings relative to average
income of manual workers
1-5
Based on the land and construction
costs
Level of car
ownership
Percentage of car-less
households.
1-3
More than 2 cars/Household --1
One car/household --2
No car --3
Size Total residents; total built-up area. 1-5
3.Accessibility cont...
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 Mixing of activities mainly results in the increasing of density in an area.
 Like residential with commercial, residential with non-hazardous industrial & Institutional
 (E.g.) Metro-City Residential Development, Tseng Kwan O, Hong Kong, China
 Phase One contains 2,048 households or 6,700 residents in 6 towers of 43 stories tall
 Mixing of activities: Residential with commercial, institutional and non-hazardous industrial
Residential Commercial Institutional
Non
hazardous
Industries
Total Height
of the
Building
24 floors 9 floors 4 floors 6 floors 43 stories
56% 21% 9% 14% 100%
Source: Wang Xu and Lau Siu Yu (2002), ‘Pursuing New Urban Living Environment In The New
Millennium: Projecting The Future Of High-Rise And High Density Living In Hong Kong', Department of
Architecture, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
19/38
Inferences-Mixing of uses

 From ground to up to 4 floors are used as
institutional(9%)
 5 to 13 floors are used as Commercial(21%)
 14 to 19 floors are used for non hazardous
industries(14%)
 20 to 43 floors are fully utilized for residential
purpose(56%)
 They used basement floor and stilt for parking
(basement floor 1, 2 and stilt 1,2)
Source: Wang Xu and Lau Siu Yu (2002), ‘Pursuing New Urban Living Environment In The New
Millennium: Projecting The Future Of High-Rise And High Density Living In Hong Kong’,
Department of Architecture, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
20/38
Arrangement of mixing of activities

Case study-2
Case study Issues identified Policies to over come the issues Out comes
Compact city
planning along
the LRTS
corridor in
London
 Scattered
development
 Increasing rate of
private mode of
transportation(11
cars per 10
households)
Source:Available
fromhttp://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/r
el/census/2011-census/key-
statistics-for-local-authorities-in-
england-and-wales/index.html11
December 2012
 Encourage residential
intensification
 Prefer tall building construction
to increase population and also
the dwelling units density
 Increase the employment
Opportunities Concentrate
different functions: office, retail,
visiting, leisure and cultural
provision
 Promote appropriate uses
compatible with residential
amenity
 Provide an extensive set to local
and trunk links by bus network
 Promote walking and improve
the pedestrian environment
 Multi functional
development
 Achieving high
density
development(29
0 persons per
ha, and the net
density is 406
persons per ha.)
21/38

 In London they integrate urban areas, Through
urban renaissance and intensification they achieved
high density in the core areas by intermingling of
activities
 Transportation plays an important role in the
intensification process
 (E.g.) Barbican in London has a land area of 22.4
ha, 16 ha of which is residential, accommodating
6,500 persons. The gross density is 290 persons
per ha, and the net density is 406 persons per
ha. And also they created 6500 new jobs. These
developments are well connected by the public
mode of transportation.
22/38

In this conceptual plan the
transportation(LRTS) plays an
important role to make the city as
more compact. Along LRTS
corridor they have identified certain
nodes.
These nodes are either stop
or stations. Around the nodes they
brought the compact development
by declaring some zonal
regulations.
23/38
Conceptual diagram-London compact development plan

 Through urban densification and selective expansion process they achieved high
density living in that area
 Construction of high-rise buildings are encouraged to increase the density by the
way of giving higher Floor Area Ratio around the LRTS nodes (Stops/Stations).
 Redevelopment of brownfield area to reduce the construction cost
 Integration of housing with various activities
 Focusing the economic development by creating additional employment
opportunities
 Through urban densification process they achieved the maximum density of 406
persons per hectare.
24/38
Inferences

issues
Out comes
Compact city policies,
Amsterdam, Netherland
 Mono functional
development
 Growth along
various directions
 Failure of ABC
industrial
locational policy
 Optimizing land use by
densification and intermingle
functions
 Create a continued clustering
and concentrate urbanization
 Concentrate regional
amenities, public services and
economic function in the
vicinity of multimodal public
hubs.
 Strengthen the user base for
amenities, so that shops in
the city remain economically
viable
 Create space for socio-
cultural mixes and functionally
mixed
 Clustered development
by urban intensification
development
 Accessibility to public
transportation by
inducing development
along transit corridors
 Specific mix of land
uses is not found
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Case study-3

Inferences
Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gooiord,_Bijlmer.jpg
 Urban densification process effectively done in that area
through clustered development. The commonly adopted
strategies are
 Along public transport truck routes in order to support public
transport thresholds
 In and around urban nodes and modal interchanges/public
transit stops
 On the periphery of open spaces to increase surveillance
 Within areas of focused high private-sector investments
 Transportation play a vital role in the city development.
 Mixing of activities done after analysing the site characteristics.
 Through densified clustered development results maximum
population density of 400 to 500 persons per hectare and 75 to
100 dwelling units per hectare.
26/38

issues
Out comes
Compact high density
development Curitiba
,Brazil
 More traffic
congestion
private mode of
transportation
 Deviation of
growth in various
directions
(Scattered
developments)
functions
 Developments along the
(BRT) transit corridor
 High density development by
the way of giving more FSI in
the transit corridor
development
transportation by
 Specific mix of uses
along the transit
corridor
 High density
development like upto
600 persons per
Hectare and 100
dwelling units per
hectare
27/38
Case study-4

Structural axis along
the BRT corridor
Curitiba trinary road
system
28/38
Compact development-Curitiba, Brazil

Residential
Commercial
BRT corridor
Green areas
Water bodies
29/38
Curitiba’s Land use, street network and Public transit

 Urban densification process effectively done.
 Transportation play a vital role in the city
development.
 Mixing of activities done after analysing the site
characteristics.
 Increasing Floor Area Ratio maximum 6 around
the transit nodes is the one option for densifying
an urban settlements.
 Through densification they have achieved a
maximum density.
 Effective utilisation of existing infrastructure
facilities.
30/38
Inferences

issues
Out comes
Compact high density
development,
Ahmedabad, India
 More traffic
congestion
private mode of
transportation
 Lack of
availability of land
 Inducing the
growth
 Creating
employment
opportunities
functions
 Developments along the
(BRT) transit corridor
 High density development by
the way of giving more FSI in
the transit corridor
development
transportation by
 Specific mix of uses
along the transit
corridor
 High density
development like up to
190 persons per
hectare
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Case study-5

 Jammarg Bus Rapid Transit system was
introduced in the year 2009 span of 220
kilometres
 Phase I--45 kms
 Phase II--currently under construction, adds
another 58.0 kms.
 Phase III proposes adding an additional
40.2 kilometres.
 Daily ridership increased by a factor of 10 in
two years, from 13,000 in October 2009 to
135,000 in November 2011
 Introduction of rapid buses are opposed to
orienting the land use activities in the
busway. Improved accessibility is to be
achieved by moving people around the city
32/38
Case study-5 cont..

 Naturally Ahmedabad has compact
structure.
 Due to land use transformations after
the execution of BRTS network
 The AUDA decided to intensify in and
around the nodes.
 Minimum lot size of 1500m to 2500m
 100m of the road is zoned as high
intensity development zone with FSI 4,
 Up to 250m is also intensification zone
with FSI 3
 Rest of the city to get FSI 2.75
Nodes
33/38
Case study-5 cont..

 Ahmedabad rated as one India’s best-planned cities. Its achievements are the
result of a planning culture that embraces innovative tools and financing
schemes, as well as good governance that enables smooth planning
implementation.
 To guarantee this new approach of integrated planning is realised in every
aspect of spatial and transport planning.
 Densification along the transit corridor are done successfully to encourage high
density developments by giving more FSI.
 Developments near to transit nodes should discourage the usage of private
mode of vehicles.
 Through the process of densification along the BRTS corridor they have
achieved the maximum density of 190 persons per hectare effectively.
34/38
Inferences

 India is one of the fast developing countries in the world. It has
about 18% of the world’s population.
 In the next 6 years urban India needs to build at least 10.5 million
houses to meet the housing demand
 Vast growth of existing metropolitan cities results scattered
developments(e.g.)Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai etc.,
 Resulted in lack of matching infrastructure, large share of slums
in cities, traffic congestion, and disparities in access to urban
services, lack of land availability, pollution and degraded natural
environment in cities
 So Compact urban development is the best solution to meet
growing housing demand
25.7
28.53
31.16
0
10
20
30
40
1991 2001 2011
Rate of
Urbanization
% Urban population
(Source: www.censusindia.gov.in)
35/38
Applicability to India’s context

 The high intensity of development reduces geographical spread /urban sprawl
 Reduces land consumption
 higher residential densities accommodating more people within the same area
and also contribute to more social interaction
 Average journey trips become shorter, leading to lower fuel consumption and
lower harmful emissions
 Urban compaction is needed as a way of combating sprawl and related issues of
shortage of land for housing and loss of agricultural land
36/38
Need of compact development

 A focus on urban compactness guarantees congestion
 Consolidation biases old infrastructure, increasing overload and the risk of failure.
 Reduced quality of life, and loss of a sense of community, especially for
households in middle to lower income brackets (and, ultimately, demolishing of
failed apartment blocks)
 The market does not favour medium to high density housing unless well located,
well appointed, and therefore out of the price range of most households.
 it is very important to bear in mind the different situation in Hong Kong,
Amsterdam, Curitiba and India, such as the difference in the development
pattern, transportation modes, living philosophy, and land policy.
37/38
Issues in Compact City

 It is safe to say that the future of India lies in its cities.
 From the experiences of various compact cities in the world, In Indian cities, especially Smaller
cities can adopt compact cities from scratch and restrict urban sprawl so as to control
environment and ecological degradation
 Strong political will and support from citizens is also the integral to the success of compact cities.
 The Government should also encourage the finance institutions to raise funds through Public
offers exclusively for Infrastructure Projects
 The major step toward achieving this is by directing the policies for growth, such as encouraging
the densification process with mixed-land use, encouraging Public private partnership (PPP) for
urban transportation and waste Management and other infrastructure facilities etc.
I want to conclude my study is listed as follows:
 Best of the Best: We may understand and adopt, Development control & Management of
facilities.
 Re Engineering required: Social Inclusiveness, Policies, Regulations Marketing the approach
itself.
38/38
Conclusion

1. Abdolhadi Daneshpour& Amir Shakibamanesh (2011), ‘Compact city; dose it create an obligatory context for urban
sustainability’, International journal of Architectural engineering & Urban planning Vol.2, no.9, pp.120-135
2. Angel S, Sheppard S and Civco D (2005), ‘The Dynamics of Global urban expansion’, Transport and Urban
development Department, Washington D.C, World Bank.
3. Bill Randolph (2006) ‘Delivering the Compact City in Australia: Current trends and Future implications’, University
of New South Wales, Kensington
4. Breheny M (ed.) (1992), ‘Sustainable Development and Urban Form’, Pion publications, London.
5. BrehenyM (1997), ‘Urban Compaction: Feasible and Acceptable?” Cities, Earth scan Publications, London. pp.
209-217
6. Burgess R., (2000), ‘The Compact City Debate: A Global Perspective” in Compact Cities: Sustainable Urban
Forms for Developing Countries’, Eds. M. Jenks, R. Burgess, (Spon Press, London). pp 9-24
7. Burton E. (2002), ‘Measuring Urban Compactness in UK Towns and Cities’, Environment and Planning B, Vol. 29,
pp.219-250.
8. Brown F (2000), ‘Modelling Urban Growth’, Town and Country Planning, London.pp.334-337.
9. Brown and Lester R. (2000), State of the World 2000 – A World watch Institute Report on Progress ‘Toward a Sustainable Society,
London’, Earth scan Publications, London.
References

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References

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