The choice of residential layout in urban China: A comparison of transportation and land use in Changsha (China) and Leeds (UK)

Gated communities with tall and dense residential buildings are common in China's cities due to the limited land resources and highly concentrated populations. Living in a gated community is comfortable, safe and removed from outside pollution and vehicles, but these large enclosed areas tend to block traffic and, therefore, increase drivers' travel distance. Comparing the residential layouts and transportation in Changsha, which is a provincial capital city in Central China, with those in Leeds, which is a city in the UK, this paper discusses the choice of residential layout in Chinese cities based on the characteristics of the residential buildings (tall and densely populated) and reveals that in Chinese cities, the size of the closed residential areas should be controlled to allow more route choices for vehicles. Controlled residential areas should not be open to outside vehicular traffic but can be designed to be semi-open, allowing entry only to pedestrians from outside, to improve the proportion of pedestrian traffic and separate pedestrians from vehicles on the roads. Enclosed areas can be designed to separate people from vehicles, and vehicles should be parked together by building car parks, parking structures or underground garages to reorder traffic, improve the quality of life of the people in the community and promote the efficient use of land.