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From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy

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From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability

Kwok Shum1 and Chihiro Watanabe2

Abstract: This brief conceptual paper contributes a sustainability theoretic perspective of an urbanization paradigm known as
Compact City. Compact City is an urban planning and development concept which promotes relatively high population density
associated with an integrated and mixed-use land district. It is enabled by transit-oriented development and results in low
transport-related energy consumption and reduced the GHG (Greenhouse Gases) pollution. Compact City conserves the natural
capital of land mass and subscribes to the strong sustainability ethics. ICT (Information and Communications Technology) could be
deployed to optimize the Compact City operations by first tackling some of the development problems associated with Compact City
and also unleashing new urban innovations and functionalities to achieve sustainable urbanization. The paper suggests and elucidates
several general systemic synergies archetypes such as co-benefits, cascading, ICT infrastructure reuse, etc., which could be leveraged
to facilitate the emergence of compact green smart and resilient city. These archetypes are solutions to the Compact City paradigm
thus conductive to the development of a Sustainability Science of Compact City.

Key words: Compact City, synergies, co-benefits, cascading, reuse, Sustainability Science.

1. Introduction: The Universal Trend of and social organization to substitute and to optimize
Urbanization natural capitals during the urbanization process. This
is to protect and preserve natural capitals such as land
Currently, over half of the world’s population lives
mass and air quality (i.e. generally both sources and
in urban areas, and that number is expected to
sinks) and to create and sustain economical and social
continue to grow. The United Nations predicts that by
development to achieve sustainable urbanization.
2050 over two-thirds of people will live in cities (Fig.
Authors illustrate this using Hong Kong as a
1). Such a major shift (almost 1.5 million people a
Compact City as example. Authors will start by
week) is bound to have significant and even
reviewing the major paradigms of sustainability, the
irreversible consequences in terms of the demands on
benefits and disadvantages of Compact City, the
natural capitals. Are people prepared for such a
definition of a Smart City and conclude with a
momentous change in the way the world’s population
conceptual framework of Sustainability Science how
lives and the resultant interaction with the natural
to facilitate the move from a Compact City to a CSGR
environment taking place at city level?
(Compact Smart Green Resilient) City.
This communication suggests that to fully exploit
the many benefits of urbanization and its resultant 2. Major Paradigms of Sustainability
demand on the natural environment, a fundamental
In Our Common Future, commonly referred to as
paradigm is necessary: the idea of using technology
the Brundtland Report [1], the definition of sustainable
development was first proposed as “Sustainable
Corresponding author: Kwok Shum, senior lecturer, development is development that meets the needs of
research fields: sustainable development, urban sustainability
and renewable energy policy. the present without compromising the ability of future
 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective 201

Fig. 1 The rising urban population [2].

generations to meet their own needs”. It contains the production process associated with natural fishery,
within it a key observation relevant to author’s not to mention the former gives rise to a host of
discussion of urbanization: the idea of limitations environmental problems. The relative perspective,
imposed by the state of technology and social otherwise known as weak sustainability postulates that
organization on the environment’s ability to meet the future generation only needs from the current
present and future needs. In other words, with generation the equivalent “productive potentials” of
advanced physical and social technologies, authors natural capitals rather than a stock of any given
could minimize their impacts to the environment and natural capital. In the case of crude oil, for example,
make inter-generational sustainability more likely. In what the future generation needs from the current
the context of urbanization, authors are interested to generation is not really about how much crude oil the
explore how technology could be harnessed to sustain current generation leaves for them but the capability
the urbanization process. Given the fact that authors of generation of energy or electricity from oil. Viewed
are living within a (closed) biosphere [3] which is not this way, technology embodied in products such as
growing, the various life-supporting sources and sinks solar panels, wind turbines, could be used as a
functions of authors’ environment, if not managed substitute of crude oil as natural capital in the
properly, are expected to be depleting. In this vein, anthropogenic pursuit of the economy. Running out
could technology come to the rescue? natural capital is acceptable because technology could
Economists have formulated the sustainability replicate the functionalities of the [now lost] natural
problem from both absolute and relative points of capital. The dichotomy of weak vs. strong
view [4]. The absolute perspective, otherwise known sustainability is a rather stylized representation of
as strong sustainability postulates that authors should sustainability. In fact, they represent the extremes of a
hand the same stock of natural capitals which authors continuum of sustainability ethics. Real life
inherit to their next generation intact, and that sustainability policy may lie anywhere along that
technology and natural capitals, viewed as production continuum.
factors or inputs to their economic activities, are only
3. Hong Kong as a Compact City
complements; i.e. the two could not substitute each
other. An example follows: the mastery of fish Hong Kong is a noted economy in Asia and the
farming or aquaculture could not substitute or mimic world. Its per capita GDP in 2016 according to the
202 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective

International Monetary Funds stands at about 59,000 could be interpreted as weak sustainability. Compact
International Dollar which is in par with that of the City therefore subscribes to both strong and weak
US. It boosts 1,379 regional headquarters in 2016 sustainability, the former because it saves natural
(census and statistics department) and is consistently capitals, the latter because it uses technology to
ranked as one of the top ten most competitive substitute for land consumption otherwise necessary.
economy (World Economic Forum). It is one of the Second, the concentration and collocation of
densest cities in the world: the average population economic activities, associated with a higher
density of built-up area is about 27,330 persons per population density and with better home-job balance2
square kilometers. The densest populated districts in would stimulate knowledge generation and diffusion
2011 were Kwun Tong (about 55,200 persons per and create economic opportunities in a mixed-used
square kilometers). In fact, all of Hong Kong’s community or neighborhood. This would create an
population lives on approximately 76 square “economy of density” [6] in the provision and demand
kilometers of land which is merely 7 to 8% of its land for services.
area (in which about 20% of land is steep slopes of ≥ Last but not least, higher population densities can
30° in gradient hard to be used for development). It is create necessary threshold for mass transit alternatives
an exemplar of a Compact City associated with a to enable compact TOD (Transit-Oriented
high-density development strategy. From a natural Development) [7]. The physical infrastructure (e.g.
capital point of view, the Compact City paradigm railway) connecting different high-density sites could
conserves land (mass) as a natural capital. leverage on the familiar economy of scale amortizing
the costs of development across a large ridership. The
3.1 What Are the Benefits and Disadvantage of
so-called rail + property development model also
Compact City?
creates values for properties along the rail line. The
The advantages of high-density living or railway as a backbone or the “string of pearls” model
development are many. First, it preserves land with enables an integration of urban, transport and
conservation value such as unique biodiversity1. In environmental planning contributing to the foundation
Hong Kong, about 67% of the land area is natural of urban sustainability. The specific urban planning
landscape and more than half is designated as country requirements within each high density district such as
parks not purposed for development. The Cullinan, walkability, cyclability, accessibility and permeability
Union Square Package 6 in the Kowloon MTR (Mass are beyond the scope of this paper and interested
Transit Railway) station boosts around 270 meters readers could consult [7] for more details.
high. Vertical development, enabled by state of art Despite all these advantages, the concentration of
construction technology, economizes land masses concrete structures and impervious surfaces with low
(think of an alternative sprawling development plan albedo trap the local city heat, giving rise to
which would house the same 1,000 households on flat micro-climate such as due to UHI (Urban Heat Island)
land) thus subscribing to the strong sustainability effects. In Hong Kong, the temperature summit [8] or
paradigm. On the other hand, the fact that such the day time maximum temperature in the town
construction technologies “amplify” the potentials of a centers could be 3 to 5 C higher than the nearby
“given” land mass could be seen as a case to use maximum temperature readings of the Hong Kong
technology to substitute the natural land mass [5] and Observatory. UHI would in turn aggregate the global

1 2
Over 50 species of terrestrial mammals, 236 species of Home-job balance would reduce travel related emissions due
butterflies, 185 species of freshwater fish, 538 species of birds. to lesser travel needs.
 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective 203

climate effects and result in higher frequency of local optimize resource usage and maintain sustainable
rainfall. The air pollution within a city would also be development. Ojo, A. et al. [11] define that “Smart
trapped due to the canyon effects associated with the Cities” are urban innovation and transformation
urban geometry of high rise building and skyline. initiatives which aim to harness physical infrastructure,
Reduced vegetation not only inhibits ICT, knowledge resources and social infrastructure
evapotranspiration but also stormwater absorption (social organization and capitals) for economic
capacity rendering a higher likelihood of flooding. regeneration, social cohesion, better city administration
While there are not without solutions to adapt these etc.. It is important to generalize the notion of Ojo, A.
via urban planning layout, reduction of thermal load et al. [11]. Urbanization draws upon a multitude of
(such as through energy efficiency initiatives to capitals (forum for the future): not only natural
reduce energy demands) and creation of breezeways capitals but also technologies, social capitals or
or modification of urban geometry based upon air governance to deliver a diversity of improved urban
ventilation assessment, reduction of building heights, efficiency and novel values. Several examples of Smart
use of suitable building materials etc., such local City applications in Hong Kong leveraging/synergizing
effects do pose a limit to compaction. the built infrastructure and digital infrastructure are
Looking forward, any sustainable development illustrated in the next section.
strategy based on the Compact City paradigm must be
4.1 Synergies of Physical and Digital Infrastructure in
ambidextrous: on the one hand, it must proceed with
Three Scenarios
climate resilient urban planning practices aiming at
the mitigation and adaptation of a Compact City’s Example 1: In Hong Kong, the DSD (Drainage
negative externalities; on the other hand, new city Services Department) [12] is utilizing real-time sensor
functionalities must continually be developed upon (digital infrastructure) to facilitate the drainage
the physical compact urban form and operations to operations. Real-time water level sensors are installed
improve quality of life, operations efficiency and to at the Happy Valley Underground Stormwater Storage
bolster economic competitiveness, migrating to the era Scheme (the physical built flood mitigation
of Smart City. infrastructure) which helps to control the weir crest
level to ensure that the filling of the storage tank
4. What Is a Smart City and What Enables
would start at the most optimal time to prevent
It?
premature or late overspill of stormwater into the
According to Cohen, B. [9], a city is smart in at storage tank. This digital information reduces the
least six aspects, namely: smart mobility, smart design capacity of the storage tank by as much as 30%
environment, smart economy, smart living, smart thus minimizing the amount of excavation for
people and smart government. It relies on the construction and thus the total construction time. This
deployment of an Internet or, more generally, an ICT example demonstrates how the ICT infrastructure
(Information and Communication Technology) could be retrofitted to amplify the capacity of the
infrastructure and data from various sensors are already built physical infrastructure associated with a
operated upon to create values such as improved Compact City.
efficiencies or innovative and economic values. In Example 2: Compact City can enhance accessibility
particular, Dameri, R. P. and Rosenthal-Sabroux, C. to local services. More dense neighborhoods have
[10] define the objective of “Smart City” as to more access to daily service functions (convenience
leverage ICT to improve the quality of life of citizens, stores, banks, post offices, medical facilities, stations,
204 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective

etc.) within walking distance. Higher quality of life in 5. Conceptualizing Transition from Compact
turn attracts more talented people to cities and large to CSGR City
population in turn demands more services and this
The above three examples demonstrate that the
sustains a growth virtuous circle.
deployment of ICT infrastructure and the utilization of
An (digital) app which would display the arrival
operations data, if available, could enhance the
time (information) of a bus in a multi-modal shift
operations efficiency of an existing built infrastructure
transit-oriented development terminal would allow a
and also optimize design capacity decision of the
passenger to use the idling time spent waiting for bus
physical infrastructure made a long time ago.
to do shopping in the nearby (compact) mix-use high
A physical infrastructure usually has an operations
service density neighborhood [6], contributing to the
life of at least half a century and once it is built, it
local economy. It goes without saying that a parking
enables and also constrains the social and economic
app operating on geo-spatial data optimizes the time
activities with associated environmental implications
searching for car park, mitigating traffic congestion
and greenhouse gases emissions and increasing to a city or a neighborhood, and its long-lasting effects
productivity. This app could also enables the “first should not be underestimated. With all the advantages
mile, last mile” concept and to promote the concept of of a Compact City, digital infrastructure and digital
a walkable city by recommending points of interest data could optimize and amplify the potentials and
and with the provision for pedestrians to leave capacities of the fixed physical infrastructure in the
feedbacks. Equipped with open CCTV surveillance midst of momentous urbanization. To conceptualize
data (without breaching applicable privacy regulations), how to upgrade a city from Compact City to CSGR
such app could also be used as smart crowd City (Fig. 2), several best practices and principles
management system, thus further optimizing the could be suggested:
usability and capacity of the physical infrastructure. (1) [Co-benefits] To optimize the combined effects
Example 3: CAPCARE (City Action Platform for of local micro-climate (e.g. urban heat island effects)
Climate Change & Energy Saving). This is a GIS and global climate change, the pursuit of both
(Geographic Information System) platform under mitigation and adaptation is indispensable. Projects
development in Hong Kong for integrating [open] data could be chosen and prioritized if they could both
at different granularity such as: environmental, mitigate and adapt climate effects. This not only
climate data provided in a typical UCM (Urban economizes project expenditure but also expedites
Climatic Map), energy data obtained from a digital much needed climate actions.
electricity meter and the BMS (Building Management Urban farm is a prime example of providing the
System) at the building level, all in the context of a co-benefits of mitigation and adaptation (Fig. 3). It
compact development (physical) infrastructure. This first curtails greenhouse gases emissions associated
platform has the potential to do self-diagnostic and with the “food miles” produce need to travel otherwise.
instigate self-healing (mitigation) of the operations of Due to evapotranspiration, it could also lower the
the stock of physical infrastructure by incentivizing temperature (by 5 C or more) of the proximity (e.g.
behavioral changes based on objective [real time the rooftop) where the farm area is situated thus
digital] data. It is estimated that it has the potential to depressing the energy consumption for air conditioning
reduce energy and carbon dioxide density from 2005 which will further alleviate the waste heat ejected
level by 40% by 2025 and 60-85% by 2030 locally. Lesser impervious surfaces would also
respectively [13]. increase the water retention capability thus making the
 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective 205

Fig. 2 Synergizing the built and ICT infrastructure to facilitate the emergence of Compact Smart and Resilient City.

Fig. 3 Projects which deliver mitigation, adaptation and both [14].

Fig. 4 The architecture of synergy of a CSGR City (adapted and modified from the advisory paper of the Smart City
Consortium [13, 15]).

neighborhood more ready for stormwater of heavy (3) [Infrastructure Reuse] While authors have
rainfalls thus reducing the flood hazards. Urban outlined several scenarios of using digital data to
farming creates a virtuous mechanism to mitigate and optimize and enhance the operations efficiency of a
adapt the local climate effects and it will also improve given fixed built (compact) infrastructure above, a
food self-sufficiency and create jobs. more general architecture of the interaction of the
(2) [Cascading] Discrete green infrastructure needs physical built and digital infrastructure could be
to be joined-up to amplify their combined mitigation conceptualized as reuse of the digital ICT
and adaption potentials. A concrete example is the infrastructure or platform [15, 16] across many smart,
integration of blue and green infrastructure which green and resilient end applications (Fig. 4) to
incorporates urban water management to irrigate the facilitate the emergence of a CSGR City. It is
green infrastructure such as different urban important to note that this reuse is above and beyond
afforestation programs. Another joined-up the utilization of a given hardware technology
arrangement or possibility is to use the roof top spaces infrastructure but also involves social learning across
(which used to house the chillers and other HVAC different applications and project developers. This
(Heat Ventilation Air Conditioning) machinery) of social learning is especially important if such
buildings served by a district cooling system, now applications are perceived as tangible solutions
made available, for urban roof-top farming. This implemented by change agents to sustainability
greatly amplifies the potentials to mitigate the urban problems. The emphasis upon use-inspired solutions
heat island effects for high density neighborhood with and actions is a central tenet of the emerging field of
canyon effects. Sustainability Science [17, 18]. In a more advanced
 From Compact City to Smart City: A Sustainability Science & Synergy Perspective 207

formulation, the digital [core] infrastructure and the optimizing the synergies within the previous limit and
diverse applications would co-evolve [19] thus trigger a new compact development cycle (Fig. 2).
leading to a more functional kernel to support
6. Conclusion & Future Works
increasing diversity of smart green resilient digital
applications. This paper motivates viewing the ongoing
The above diverse archetypes of synergies and urbanization process via Compact City strategy from
others could be further elucidated and the strong vs. weak sustainability point of view.
conceptualized as the important ingredients of a Authors elucidate the multiple roles of technology
Sustainability Science of Compact City. which optimizes the use of natural capitals (e.g. land
(4) [Sustainability Ethics] The much simplified mass) and mitigates the associated environmental
explanation of the two strands of sustainably at the externalities of a Compact City; specifically,
outset could be used to inform the future development technologies such as ICT could be deployed to further
of a CSGR City. The compact paradigm operates on introduce novel urban functionalities based on the
the premise that land mass, a critical exhaustible existing infrastructure.
(excluding the reclamation of land) natural capital, Authors postulate that the Sustainability Science of
needs to be conserved and a limit of how much land to Compact City could be formulated as addressing the
use or keep must be maintained. On the other hand, various sustainability problems by leveraging several
for the allotted land mass for development, state of the practical archetypes of synergies: those within the
art technology such as high-rise building, urban planning built infrastructure such as co-benefits of climate
code, transportation infrastructure, etc. could be used mitigation and adaptation and cascading (or
to maximize the land development potentials. A building joined-up actions of otherwise disconnected green
of 10 storeys (or a plot ratio of 10) could house the activities) and those across the built compact
same number of households in 1/10 of the land masses infrastructure and the digital ICT infrastructure such
compared to if these households are located in a flat as the reuse of a common ICT platform to develop a
land. Strictly speaking, the deployment of technology suite of smart green resilient solutions to optimize the
could be interpreted as substituting land masses and operations of the built infrastructure and develop new
this is the central tenet of the weak sustainability functionalities. Future research could be directed at
paradigm. This convenience is not free of problems as elucidating the specific mechanisms of such synergies
compact development also leads to a host of negative and the stakeholders’ organizational implications.
environmental externalities which would also need Another potential topic is to study when such
technologies to solve. Viewed this way, Compact City synergies become not able to tackle the problems
development embraces both strong and weak within a full Compact City and which then warrants a
sustainability paradigms, the former on the limiting of new compact development cycle to be triggered [3].
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