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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ... vii
ABSTRACT ... ix
RESUME ... xii
LIST OF FIGURES ... xviii
LIST OF TABLES ... xx
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ... xxi
CHAPTER I ... 3
1. Introduction ... 5
1.1. Prelude ... 5
1.2. Context of the research ... 6
1.3. Problem Statement ... 10
1.4. Aims ... 12
1.5. Research questions, objectives and hypotheses ... 12
1.6. Research method ... 14
1.7. Contribution to knowledge ... 17
1.8. Overview of the thesis structure ... 17
CHAPTER II ... 19
Abstract ... 20
2. Urban form and sustainable urban planning: A review of the multiplicity of methods to analyse the urban system ... 21
2.1. Introduction ... 21
2.2. Urban form: methods of analysis and approaches ... 22
2.2.1. Historical approach ... 24
2.2.2. Typo-morphology approach ... 28
2.2.3. Spatial and configurational approach ... 33
2.2.4. Methodological morphological analysis timeline and connections ... 37
2.3. Urban form : a sustainable perspective of design criteria and metric systems ... 45
2.3.1. Formal concept ... 46
2.3.2. Dense urban form and solar access ... 49
2.3.3. Urban form energy indicators ... 50
2.4. Urban form to develop a sustainable and energy-efficient urban planning policy: an integrated conceptual model ... 52
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CHAPTER III ... 56
3. Methodology ... 58
3.1. Introduction ... 58
3.2. Defining individual elements of urban form analysis ... 58
3.2.1. The plot (P) ... 59
3.2.2. The path (Pa) ... 59
3.2.3. The constructed space (B) ... 60
3.2.4. The void (V) ... 60
3.3. Defining the elements of urban form analysis, between themselves and in relation to other urban elements ... 63
3.3.1. City and district scale: defining the urban form’s elements of analysis between themselves ... 63
A. Stationarity test ... 65
B. Lag selection ... 67
C. Johansen cointegration test ... 67
D. Granger causality test and VECM ... 68
E. Stability tests ... 69
3.3.2. District and building scale: studying the interaction of urban form elements with other urban elements ... 69
3.4. Integrated methodological framework ... 70
3.5. The Brussels-Capital Region case study ... 72
CHAPTER IV ... 75
Abstract ... 76
4. Urban form, road transport infrastructure and energy consumption in the Brussels-Capital Region: cointegration, correlation and causality analysis ... 77
4.1. Introduction ... 77
4.2. Empirical literature review ... 78
4.3. Overview of transport in the Brussels-Capital Region ... 80
4.3.1. Transport infrastructure and land use ... 83
4.3.2. Road mode transport pattern ... 86
4.3.3. Public transport patterns ... 88
4.4. Transport energy saving policies in the Brussels-Capital Region ... 90
4.5. Data description and empirical results ... 92
4.5.1. Description of data ... 93
4.5.2. Results ... 98
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CHAPTER V ... 107
Abstract ... 108
5. Interdependent energy relationships between buildings and plot ratio restriction in urban regeneration ... 109
5.1. Introduction ... 109
5.2. Overview of the Brussels-Capital Region case study ... 111
5.2.1. Building energy consumption in the BCR ... 111
5.2.2. Building energy saving policies in the BCR ... 113
5.2.3. Integrated morphological analysis of the European district ... 116
5.3. Definition of urban regeneration scenarios & 3D scenarios modelling ... 124
5.4. Experimental results and 3D spatial analysis ... 132
5.4.1. SE analysis results ... 132
5.4.2. SVF analysis results ... 137
5.5. Conclusion and prospects ... 139
CHAPTER VI ... 143
6. Conclusions and further work ... 145
6.1. Main findings of the research ... 145
6.1.1. At the city scale ... 148
6.1.2. At the district scale ... 148
6.1.3. At the street scale ... 148
6.1.4. At the building scale ... 149
6.2. Significance and contribution of the study ... 149
6.3. Methodological considerations and research limitations ... 151
6.4. Suggested further work ... 152
