37º IAHS World Congress on Housing: - Universidad de Cantabria

XXXVII <strong>IAHS</strong><strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> on HousingOctober 26 – 29, 2010, Santander, SpainCODE: 620SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORM IN MEDIUM-SIZED CITIESNogués, S., Victorero, P.Department of Geography, Urban and Regional PlanningUniversity of Cantabriae-mail: noguess@unican.es; victorerop@unican.esKey words: urban form, sustainability, planning policy, medium-sized cityAbstractNowadays, cities are zones where sustainable development is one of the main goals of publicpolicies, from the international to the local level. National Governments focus theireconomical, social and environmental development on cities, as several reports ofinternational institutions such as the United Nations or European Union emphasize. One ofthe most important characteristics of the current city that is considered to be the focus ofmany unsustainable problems is its physical and functional structure. Over the last decades,the spread across the landscape has outpaced population growth, changing city form fromcompact to sprawling. Low-density development, sprawl, rigidly restrictive zoning, networksof roads establishing infrastructure barriers between zones, etc. are the principalcharacteristics of this process, and many of these factors are considered challenges to urbansustainability. Specifically, medium-sized cities represent an important component within adeveloped country’s urban hierarchy. Even if they do not eventually become largemetropolitan areas, there is evidence that they might follow the same urban structuraldevelopment patterns as already developed metropolitan areas. Thus, proactive analysis andplanning in medium-sized cities may be necessary to orient their development towards moresustainable outcomes.The objective of this paper is to analyze the concept of sustainable urban form and thepolicies that should be proposed in medium-sized cities. First of all, we tackle current trendsof sustainable urban form and the way they have been arising in both research and policyenvironments. Then, we introduce the medium-sized city from its form perspective and wediscuss its specific characteristics. Finally, we evaluate the suitability of general policies andplanning actions to the possible specific needs of medium-sized cities.37º <strong>IAHS</strong> <strong>World</strong> <strong>Congress</strong> On Housing Science 246