Seeking low-carbon development in residential buildings is very important. We aimed to explore the mechanism of the urban form on residential building carbon emissions at the urban block level. When Beijing was adopted as a case study, blocks were categorized into enclosed, radial, intensive, and axial types. Geographic information data of 30 typical residential districts were extracted via ArcGIS software.Through the integration of parametric modeling and performance analysis techniques, the embodied and operational carbon emissions of typical districts were calculated. We analyzed carbon emission differences from the perspective of spatial factors such as the plot ratio, building density, and average building height, as well as temporally. The results revealed that the carbon emissions of the enclosed blocks were the lowest, and the carbon emissions of the intensive blocks were the highest. The plot ratio and average building height were negatively correlated with operation and embodied carbon emissions, whereas building density was positively correlated with operation and embodied carbon emissions.
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June 2025
Research Article|
December 13 2025
Impact of urban morphology on dwellings carbon emissions at the district scale Available to Purchase
Jingjing Wang, PhD;
Jingjing Wang, PhD
Chongqing Research Institute of Beijing University of Technology, Chongqing, China; The College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China; National Engineering Research Center of High-speed Railway Construction Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China
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Zhiyuan Fei, BSc;
Zhiyuan Fei, BSc
The College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
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Li Song, PhD;
Li Song, PhD
National Engineering Research Center of High-speed Railway Construction Technology, Changsha, Hunan, China (corresponding author: songli@csu.edu.cn)
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Rundong Li, BSc
Rundong Li, BSc
The College of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, China
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Publisher: Emerald Publishing
Received:
November 02 2023
Accepted:
December 05 2024
Online ISSN: 1751-7680
Print ISSN: 1478-4629
Emerald Publishing Limited: All rights reserved
2025
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability (2025) 178 (3): 218–234.
Article history
Received:
November 02 2023
Accepted:
December 05 2024
Citation
Wang J, Fei Z, Song L, Li R (2025), "Impact of urban morphology on dwellings carbon emissions at the district scale". Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Engineering Sustainability, Vol. 178 No. 3 pp. 218–234, doi: https://doi.org/10.1680/jensu.23.00086
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