Environmental sustainability vs livability of the compact city?

Abstract

Improvements of energy efficiency and ecosystem services, as well as the revitalization of the city, are often conflicting goals. However, through the reorganization of the urban form or the services compatible with the existing high density, it is possible to obtain appreciable results from the point of view of sustainability as well as liveability. Examples of two winning cities of the European Green Capital Award, show that successful urban regeneration is based on the densification of the city - which means to reorganize the mobility, the system of urban spaces and green on a compact existing fabric (Vitoria-Gasteiz) – otherwise on the activation of mechanisms of densification which do not involve further soil consumption (Bristol).