Energy design strategies for city-centres: an evaluation

City-centres are replica of high energy intensity with growing building services as a consequence of rapid urbanization and ever-increasing urban densities. Energy for building services is increased owing to 'urban heat island'. These higher heat sinks also elevate energy demand profile for downtown areas. Low energy system considerations for urban buildings in city centre require consideration of a wide range of factors including Urban Square design, geometry & orientation in context of micro-planning needs. Present paper evaluates city-centres enlisting existing shortcomings and proposes simultaneously design criteria's citing examples from existing city centres across globe. This will help designers, micro-planners, architects in redefining building design criteria's that correlates to city-centres & downtowns for energy efficiency.