Characteristics of Urban Sustainability in the Cases of Multi Commercial Complexes from the Perspective of the “Ground”

In the diverse research on Multi Commercial Complexes, rather than a technical and statistical approach, it is now time to focus on the quality of urban sustainability based on the daily experience of urban residents. Therefore, this research proposes a mechanism for making a sophisticated adjustment to the “Ground”, defined as the empty space of a designated site under the existing urban conditions, towards planning the sustainability of a Multi-Commercial Complex. For the first step, the elements of urban sustainability were extracted from the Figure-Ground Theory and the urban theory of Aldo Rossi and Kevin Lynch, respectively. The relationship between the methodology, which deals with the concept of “Ground” and its sustainable urban status, is analyzed using five selected multi-commercial complex cases. We derived the characteristics of “Ground” represented in each case, including “Responding”, “Contextual”, “Historical”, “Co-existing”, and “Hybrid” sustainability. In each case, the “Ground” was treated as a crucial common issue. In this paper, we suggest that preferential consideration and sensitive design of the “Ground” are crucial for maintaining urban sustainability in the planning of Multi Commercial Complexes. This paper can thus contribute to the body of research on urban sustainability along with existing technical studies.