Towards low-carbon urban forms: A comparative study on energy efficiencies of residential neighborhoods in Chongming Eco-Island

Abstract

The hyper-fast urbanization process in China has led to the mixes of traditional and contemporary neighborhoods, especially in the aspects of residential districts. The aim of this paper is to explore the interrelationship between urban form and energy efficiency of the residential neighborhoods on Chongming Eco-Island, which is a leading example in China's urbanization towards low-carbon and sustainability. By the empirical study and simulation on six most dominant neighborhood typologies, it is found that the annual building energy consumption of them vary significantly largely due to the various occupant behaviors. Moreover, the calculation of solar potential and energy trade-offs between production and consumption indicates that the nucleated villages and slab buildings have the greatest retrofitting potentials, which lead to the policy implications for Chongming' s low energy and low carbon urban management.