*3.3.1 Traditional low-rise and high-density urban form and short blocks*

The low-rise, high-density blocks, which characterise China's traditional way of building local neighbourhoods6 rather than the western-style low-density and singlefamily detached houses, facilitate the walking-scale environments typical of Chinese cities. In particular, the mixture of residential, commercial and recreational land use within these traditional Chinese communities provides local shops, small public spaces (squares or playgrounds) and other community services. It enables these local areas to cater for their daily necessities within walking distance. The close proximity generated by the short blocks also shortens the pedestrian distance [24]. Finally, this type of urban form helps to facilitate and operate more efficient public transport for these communities. The urban density of the whole city of Beijing and Shanghai is around 50 and 70 persons per hectare in 2005, similar to some European cities and much higher than typical automobile-dependent cities in Canada, Australia and America [25].
