Urban planning can reduce urban GHG emissions in transport and buildings by 14% in 2050

Urban planning can reduce urban GHG emissions in transport and buildings by 14% in 2050 | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Urban planning can reduce urban GHG emissions in transport and buildings by 14% in 2050 Felix Creutzig, Aneeque Javaid, Alessio Mastrucci, Siir Kilkis, and 4 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9211596/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Urban planning is a key lever for municipal climate mitigation, relevant for both reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in urban transport and within the building sector. However, it is unclear how large the municipal mitigation potential of urban planning is. Here, we develop scenarios that explicitly consider the contribution of new settlements between 2025 and 2050 for both transport - by reducing the distance traveled by cars and by modal shift -, and buildings - by supporting more compact building forms that reduce energy use and construction demand. We find that urban planning - a focus on compact design, mixed use, and low-carbon transport infrastructure - can reduce future GHG emissions by 14% compared to business as usual, with about equal contributions from transport and building sectors, notably including construction. Our analysis highlights the importance of developing and rapidly growing cities in Asia and Africa in supporting urban planning-related mitigation efforts. cities urban planning mitigation scenarios Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9211596","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":611604786,"identity":"861d8a48-971e-4abd-9e8b-0dbdb859889b","order_by":0,"name":"Felix 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