Is high-rise construction the sustainable design choice? - December blog post

Back in 2004, David Owen made the case in The New Yorker that “everywhere should be more like New York.” He touted his life in Manhattan as having a much lower carbon footprint than when he moved to a more rural area. While high-rise cities like New York City deliver high population density, according to new research from a team at Edinburgh Napier University, it turns out that a similar population density can be achieved in one with low-rise buildings (like Paris) and with a substantially lower embodied carbon cost. The researchers conclude that we need to build more low-rise, high-density cities like Paris, rather than high-rise, high-density cities like New York.

Getting urban city planning right will be critical in reducing emissions...to continue reading click here.

(the full blog, as well as previous posts, are hosted on usglassmag.com)