Application of geo-environmental capacity of ground buildings in urban planning

The restrictions of the geo-environment are often ignored in urban planning, thereby directly causing a variety of geological hazards, including large areas of land subsidence in soft soil area. Based on the control objective of land subsidence, the geo-environmental capacity of ground buildings (GECGB) is defined. The relationship between floor area ratio (FAR) and land subsidence in Shanghai, China is analyzed. The results illustrate that land subsidence increases as FAR increases, and that the engineering environmental effect of the high-rise building group is the main factor affecting land subsidence in Shanghai, China. Hayashi’s Quantification Theory type I is selected to evaluate the GECGB of four typical areas in Shanghai. The prediction model is established based on existing background materials and the GECGB expressed by allowable FAR of the four typical areas are calculated. The evaluation approach promoted in this paper can be applied in urban planning to control the land subsidence induced by dense high-rise buildings.