TABLE OF CONTENTS - The Professional Green Building Council

Theme B: Creating a livable, healthy and environmentally viable citiesviewpoint, and is deemed important in the area of urban landscaping planning,thereby making it difficult to define it in terms of its universality (ULI, 1987)[5].The concept of mixed-use development is very inclusive; it ranges from acombination of two social and economic functions in a narrow sense to acombination of over ten functions in a broad sense. Mixed-use developmentinvolves diverse sizes and functions ranging from small-scale construction tourban-scale construction; thus, instead of seeking its universal definition, it isimportant to conduct a thorough analysis of the given land in a project and definethe characteristics of the land (Rodenburg, 2004:274-288)[6].3. QUALITY OF LIFEProponents of high-density mixed-use development are conducting research onmany relevant cases to verify the superiority of high-density urban residences.These researches postulate that such urban high concentration can remaincompetitive when it ensures a high quality urban life (Breheny, 1996) [ 7 ].Architect Richard Rodgers supported compact cities with activated cultures in thestreets in his 1995 lecture in Reith (Parkinson and Bianchini, 1993; Montgomery,1995; Breheny, 1996). Compact cities, which are equipped with vitality anddiversity, offer urban residents the short walking distances, a reduction in vehicleoperation, and saving of energy, thereby providing sustainable urban transportationand diverse urban services, and thus enhance life quality for urban dwellers(Fulford, 1996)[8].Haughton and Hunter researched into the strengths and weaknesses of highconcentrationdevelopment in their paper titled Sustainable Cities; they reportedthat urban safety accidents and crimes are more related to residential vacancyratios rather than to residential concentration (Coupland, 1997).[9] Masnavi (2000)researched into four factors relating to compact cities and the quality of life;accessibility to urban facilities, use of vehicles, health and social exchanges, onwhich basis he conducted a comparative analysis of complex urban development,551