Studies of the relationship between urban form and energy use have used scenarios to examine the relative energy efficiency of three spatial configurations of urban systems: centralization, multinucleation, and sprawl. Their results have been contradictory. This article develops a human ecological critique of these studies by examining the events included in each scenario. The results suggest that these contradictions are more apparent than real: Multinucleation is the most energy-efficient urban form. They also suggest that energy may now be a relatively weak determinant of urban form.
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