Urban spatial structure and environmental emissions: A survey of the literature and some empirical evidence for Italian NUTS 3 regions

•The article discusses the effects of urban spatial structure on emissions.•Spatial structure is framed in terms of polycentricity and dispersion.•We considered emissions from private road transport and residential heating.•In Italian provinces urban sprawl is associated with higher emissions.•Polycentricity alone does not reduce emissions.

This paper addresses the relationship between urban spatial structure and emissions. Surveying the most relevant literature, first we discuss the concept of spatial structure, focusing in particular on polycentricity and dispersion, and then we summarise the possible links between spatial structure and emissions. The survey provides the framework to explore the empirical evidence for Italy concerning CO2 and PMs emissions originating from private transport and residential heating. Our results suggest that spatial structure affects CO2 emissions from private transport and PMs from housing emissions. There is no evidence for polycentricity to reduce emissions.