ShareThe dramatic growth and transformation of urban areas represent major global environmental challenges and affects important factors of living conditions. If we are to meet these challenges and plan for sustainable urban development, we must develop new planning strategies, methods and tools for sustainable urban development. In order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve the urban environment and citizen’s living conditions, the urban structure including the infrastructure, land use and transportation pattern must be reconsidered. A great challenge to urban development is to design the urban structure in a way that reduces the cities’ ecological footprint. This often means a long-term change of the urban structure, the land use, the transportation system and the infrastructure.
In future cities new development should take place mainly within the existing building zone through conversion and densification without compromising existing qualities of the city. City reconstruction will be the future predominant way to build a city, where development of a city’s land use, transportation system and infrastructure will require relocation of the businesses in town. The principle of establishing the right business at the right place must be followed.
In this study track we will deal with how these challenges best can be solved in an integrated planning process where land use, public transport, car traffic and infrastructure are seen together in relation to the development of the urban structure location of transport nodes, the density of the development and the design.
The perspective in this study track is the urban structure and how organising the land use, the public transport system, the pedestrian and bicycle routes, the car traffic and the distribution of power and water system influences the ecological footprint of the cities. We will have focus on how to strive for carbon – neutral cities by improving eco efficiency in the urban structure, developing sustainable transport, developing and using renewal energy and develop well planned and organized neighbourhoods with high quality of life and increasing sense of place.
By utilizing high academic competence by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and theNorwegianUniversityof Science and Technology (NTNU) this study track will give an outstanding multidisciplinary competence of high international level in sustainable urban planning with focus on urban infrastructure.