Planning and building settlements in harmony with nature and according to the ECOURBAN Basic Principles – including the infrastructure for supply of energy and water, for communication etc. – creates attractive places to live and work.
Focus: Urban Pattern for environmentally compatible mobility
Cities and towns composed of pedestrian-oriented compact, mixed use quarters/neighbourhoods of short distances integrated into a polycentric urban system at public-transport-oriented locations (stops of local light-rail).
An attractive design of a network of squares, streets and green areas including buildings with a variety of facades to create a diversified surrounding is an additional contribution to make ECOURBAN Patterns liveable.
Two issues are crucial for achieving quarters/neighbourhoods/settlements of short distances:
Qualified urban density
Compact settlements can be achieved by balancing the requirements for
- reducing demand for land
- achieving short distances (minimising transport demand)
- promoting the viability of attractive infrastructure facilities (e.g. district heating systems) and public transport services, reducing the cost of their provision,
with the requirements of
sufficient distance between buildings for day-lighting and utilisation of solar energy (and / or shading, depending on location and climate) and
sufficient open and green space for social contact and recreation near the dwellings, minimising the area taken by the transport infrastructure.
Balanced mixed-use
Mixed-use is achieved by organising a balance of residential, employment and educational uses as well as distribution, supply and recreational facilities on all different levels – from buildings [1] and blocks to neighbourhoods and quarters, city and region. Space needs to be provided for the following facilities:
- at the level of neighbourhoods and for basic daily needs: grocery, pubs and restaurants, kindergarten, primary school, general practitioner, community and leisure facilities
- at the municipal or regional level and for medium- and long-term needs: e.g. specialised retail and gastronomy, higher schools and further education institutions and hospitals
The size, number and variety of such facilities should be in balance with the size of the neighbourhood. Ensuring their availability needs careful location management similar to that of shopping centres. Experiences from these also show the importance of „attractors“, which serve the entire community (such as special shops, educational or leisure facilities suitable to an ECOURBAN settlement). The urban and building structures should offer sufficient variability and flexibility to allow adapting the uses to changing demands.
Patterns appropriate for sustainable transport
The main aspects to be considered are location and size of the area.
The location of urban development is of great importance for the efficiency of a sustainable transport system on two levels. Firstly, the selection of an appropriate site for a new development area (quarter, neighbourhood) is essential for ensuring efficient public transport – new developments should be integrated along an existing main axis of local public transport or into an axis of urban development, where a new public transport track could be established or an existing one extended (linear polycentric development). It is also important to consider the quality of the entire public transport system existing in the town and region as a basis for connecting the site into its urban and regional setting. Secondly, the location of particular buildings and facilities within ECOURBAN settlements is important for their accessibility by pedestrians and cyclists and for the distribution of goods. Concentrating the necessary facilities (shops, services, etc.) in a central area creates short distances from all parts of a neighbourhood (this holds especially true for locating a public transport stop in the centre) and allows for easier trip chaining.
The following priorities should be considered, when deciding between different locations favourable for sustainable transport:
- Prefer re-use, renovation, retrofitting and revitalisation of favourably located existing structures.
- Secondly, re-use favourably located brownfields for re-urbanisation.
- Lastly, carefully and sparingly use favourably located greenfield sites for urbanisation [1].
A further important location requirement for future urban development is the prevention of disturbance through e.g. noise or pollution, concerning in particular the mode of transport making the site accessible. Sites on main supra-regional roads with heavy car traffic are not suitable for locating ECOURBAN Settlements because of their huge negative impacts, which are intolerable especially for residential areas. But as sustainable development should be based on mixed use, this implies that other facilities (including public transport stops) should also not be located close to such roads.
The size of the area for an ECOURBAN settlement should be limited, concentrating urban development (e.g. a new neighbourhood) within a radius of walking distance around one or several public transport stops and providing easy access to the surrounding landscape. On the other hand the area must be large enough to enable an attractive mix of facilities and a proximity of living and working and thus to achieve a high share of short internal trips.
Development towards ECOURBAN patterns
However, new development accounts only for a small part of the total building stock. Thus the main challenge to urban planning will be to adapt existing quarters to an ECOURBAN concept. In this case optimised structures can only be achieved in steps and over longer periods of time. The example of model settlements should help to achieve greater acceptance for the necessary regeneration of existing settlements. Generally, both processes – changes in existing urban structures and new urban development – are currently occurring (though often in an unsustainable way) and should further occur (though with a commitment to sustainable solutions) in parallel. In the long run, a sensible local combination of both approaches will help to prevent sprawl.
Patterns, which could be summed up as ‘elements of sprawl’ are definitely not compatible with an ECOURBAN settlement and must be avoided: for example, detached, single-family houses or large shopping and leisure centers on greenfield sites. Their negative impact on the ecological quality of an urban structure is immense.