Evaluation of Compaction Index to Achieve Sustainable Urban Development Using AHP: Two Case Studies

The search for an ideal city, which can express both technological advantages and healthy spirit of rural life based on enlightening ideas of social justice, has long been the major concern of most philosophers, social reformers, writers, architects and urban planners. Urban form is known as a source of environmental problems. The emergence of "sustainable development" as a common term has raised many discussions on urban forms. Different types of urban forms (corridor, compact, marginal and edge) have been evaluated for sustainable urban development. It is revealed that compact city is more sustainable than other forms. There is disagreement on potential effects of compaction. Using archival studies, surveys and questionnaires, the author evaluates the environmental sustainability of Yousefabad as a dense neighborhood, compared to Garnet Hill, by AHP to prove that compaction alone cannot bring the expected advantages. To achieve advantages of compaction in urban design, the author emphasizes that four basic criteria of compact city, density, sustainable transportation, mixed land-use and diversity, should be interrelated.