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New York - The key to controlling emissions is developing more buildings in cities’ unused spaces, according to a media report. Building in underused parts of cities can reduce car dependency and improve the efficiency of infrastructure, but careful urban planning is crucial to ensure the right issues are tackled.

In April the latest report of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said one of the most effective ways to cut the carbon emissions of cities was to promote infill housing, writes a recent article in The New York Times. It cites the example of Elephant Park in London, where a 1,200-home public housing estate has been replaced by a new neighbourhood that will have almost 3,000 apartments and townhouses by 2026.

“It is an absolutely exemplary example of what we need to be doing to make cities greener, and we need to be doing it quickly and all around the world,” Kate Meyrick, an urban consultant based in Brisbane, Australia, told The New York Times. She continued that the Elephant Park developers Landlease have achieved an interesting mix of homes, spaces and services, such as supermarkets, yoga studios and public transport connections, thereby reducing residents’ dependency on cars.   

Peter Newman, professor of sustainability at Curtin University in Australia, agrees. He said in the article: “The hard truth is that we can’t afford to waste more time if we are going to make the changes we need to get to net zero, and stop building new homes 30 miles from where they are needed.”

In this context, careful town planning is crucial, according to the article, which references a study of climate planning policies in 170 California communities led by the University of California Santa Cruz. The study found that a shortage of resources and urban planning expertise was “one of the reasons that the relatively easier challenges of tree planting and waste management were more often tackled than the thornier issues of urban density, housing and infrastructure”.