From cities to districts: combined analysis on density variation of Chinese cities in different climate zones

In the analysis of the built environment, holistic analysis and hierarchical assessment of sustainability is strongly needed to avoid the isolation of the component parts and fragmented decision making. This paper presents an ongoing research based on the case study with a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis methods. The aim for this paper is to validate Holistic Sustainability Evaluation Framework for Asia-Pacific Regions (HSEFA), find out the influencing indicators of urban climate which is one of the sixteen modalities in the framework, and propose recommendations on best practice in urban form. The authors have analysed the density of 85 Chinese cities statistically according to the pre-defined climatic indicators. A close qualitative case study is followed on the districts of five representative Chinese cities located in four different climatic zones. The holistic sustainability evaluation framework established and validated aims to assist the design and decision making in urban design which is suitable for Chinese cities and other cities in the Asia-Pacific Regions.