Improving Energy Efficiency in Community Land-Use—Transportation Systems

The form of our cities is a major determinant of energy consumption, especially that related to the oil-consuming transport sector. This is particularly so in Australia, which is one of the most highly urbanized nations in the world with a high degree of dependence on automotive transport. The paper discusses planning changes to cope with future oil shortages in terms of modifying urban form, community hardware (buildings, infrastructure, and rolling stock), and community software (life-styles, rules and regulations, fuel economics, etc). Energy savings of at least 40% are possible in the larger cities through changes such as increasing vehicle operating costs, increasing vehicle occupancy, higher-density development, and shorter-trip behaviour. Subcentre development within the urban area is found to be less energy expensive than fringe or satellite development.