The impact of urban form on residential electricity consumption: Panel data analyses of South Korean urban municipalities

This study estimated the relationship between urban form and residential electricity use based on data from South Korean urban municipalities. Urban measures representing population distribution characteristics in four distinct dimensions were used in the analysis: size, density, degree of concentration, and degree of clustering. The estimations showed that urban form had a significant impact on residential electricity use. Specifically, population size was associated with increased electricity use, and a compact urban form, characterized by a higher population density and concentration, reduced it. The effect of the compact urban form on reducing electricity use was found to be closely related to reduced cooling demand, which was thought to be the result of shading effects. The results also revealed that explaining reduced electricity use of cities with a compact urban form as the result of a larger share of the population living in multi-family housing is not applicable to the cases of the present study. Nevertheless, this study supports the suggestions of related research that a compact urban form is preferable for reducing residential electricity use in cities.