ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on future developments. It asks whether a compact city design can generate future energy savings. Indicative calculations show possible energy gains in a future compact city compared to a rural situation. The chapter discusses the hypothesis that a compact city can contribute to a better environment and save energy use in transport is investigated within the Dutch transport system. It also asks whether this phenomenon can be observed in the present highly urbanized areas in The Netherlands. These areas come closest to the concept of the compact city. A densely built city is now being called a compact city. The chapter shows that it is difficult to draw unambiguous conclusions about the present environmental benefits of the mobility patterns of the compact city, partly because there are side-effects which may contribute to the signalled differences, partly because the observed differences in energy use per person are negligible.
