Is the Sprawling Urban Form Sustainable? : An Investigation of the Ecological Impacts of Low-density Fringe Development
Date
2014-07-17
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Abstract
The traditional postwar city has been characterized by extensive low-density residential growth coupled with an over-reliance on the private automobile for mobility in the city. As human activities seem to be the defining determinants of the unsustainable urban fabric, it is essential to understand the long-term impacts of the contemporary urban lifestyle and how it detrimentally relates to the planet.
In this research, two urban development concepts were investigated to determine the type of urban form suitable for structuring a more sustainable city. By comparing low-density suburban communities to core area communities using an environmental impact assessment tool supported with empirical observations and theory, the differences between these two urban concepts were obtained. Using the ecological footprint methodology, footprint estimations were done for suburban communities (N = 8) and core area communities (N = 4) in Calgary to find out their disparities. The research used neighborhood household income/consumption as a proxy for estimating the ecological footprint values and footprints obtained ranged between 11.35 Gha/cap and 6.77 Gha/cap. All the data used in this research are secondary data obtained from Statistics Canada, The City of Calgary, and a Canadian national footprint study by Mackenzie et al (2008).
The research suggests that drawing growth to core areas is a salient part of reducing ecological footprint but it needs to be complemented with novel ways of urban fringe development to maximize the outcomes of ecological footprint interventions. Since the highest ecological footprint values were found in high-income suburban neighborhoods, it is relevant to approach the problem by utilizing income as an integrator in making the urban form less suburban and also changing the structure of the few indispensable suburban communities.
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Keywords
Architecture, Sociology--Transportation, Urban and Regional Planning
Citation
Abobo, A. M. (2014). Is the Sprawling Urban Form Sustainable? : An Investigation of the Ecological Impacts of Low-density Fringe Development (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/26684