Energy resilient urban form: a design perspective

The paper introduces a design perspective of making energy resilient urban form, an approach to promoting energy performance through changing urban physical form. Existing urban energy research is often limited to performance analysis based on a positive question such as: "how urban systems function in energy efficiency". The paper raises a normative question: "how urban form should be designed or changed to achieve better energy performance and system resiliency". A research framework is suggested, including 1) energy flows in Euclidean geometry, 2) Gibson and Lynch's perceptual environment, 3) material flows and embodied energy, and 4) cross-scale dynamics. A test case of urban district is conducted, which demonstrates how performance analysis and design are connected. The paper concludes that urban design can be conceived as a forward-looking modeling method for synthesizing complex and uncertain energy problems in cities. It contributes to the agenda of creating a "normal science of urban energy modeling". (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.