A large proportion of energy demand comes from urban areas, mostly from buildings and transport, the use of which has impacts on climate and air quality through the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The research in this paper investigates the relationship between the selected urban form characteristics and energy consumption in England, in order to understand how one influences the other. The influence of urban form is recognized in many aspects of cities, such as human behavior and transport dynamics. Consequently, it is also expected to have a significant impact on energy consumption and to be a key component in future urban sustainability. Urban energy consumption is calculated at a large geographic scale of analysis combining the consumption of both buildings and commute transport. Urban form indicators are obtained for the same land-parcels and correlations between the two calculated. The results demonstrate that a variety of urban form characteristics influence energy consumption. Some measures show little correlation with energy consumption, whereas other density measures show a significant scaling relationship. Therefore, density indicators such as population density are suggested as a means to explain urban energy consumption. Additionally, the results reveal that the relationship between energy consumption and urban characteristics follows a sublinear scaling relationship and hence show an economy of scale. This analysis suggests that better energy efficiency is achieved by areas with higher population density, which provides new insights to urban policy-makers and planners seeking to design strategies to cut carbon emissions and energy consumption.

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Worldwide energy consumption is generally related with fossil fuels that increase CO 2 and other greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The transport sector represents a significant part of energy demand. As its share comes mostly from petroleum products, known for their highly polluting effects, there is the need to quantify energy use by transport. This assessment supports the planning and implementation of energy consumption mitigation policies that reduce negative environmental outcomes of transport systems. The research introduces an approach to estimate transport energy consumption obtained from available data and scaling factors. As the emphasis is put on urban transport, only commute road and rail transport are considered in the analysis. Data is stored and managed in a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) framework environment that also supports mapping the results. These maps allow identifying higher energy consumption areas by mode of transport and type of vehicle. Plotting the results also enables understanding the geographic distribution of energy demand from urban to rural regions, providing tools to perceive the relationship between urban form and energy consumption of the transport sector. Taking into account that the analysis is produced at a large scale, the obtained results offer support to planners and policy makers that seek solving transportrelated problems, as pollution and high energy demand. Large scale analysis allows and enhances better planning, primarily when designing strategies for such detailed areas as urban spaces. Assessing and analysing energy consumption of the transport sector, enables deriving alternative energy layouts that present better energy efficiency, aiming for the final goal of mitigate the negative effects of urban transport systems.