Density
Urban density is the number of people, homes or built floor area per unit of land. It is not the same as height: Barcelona's six-storey Eixample is denser than many tower estates surrounded by parking. Density is what makes public transport, neighbourhood retail and nearby services viable.
The Spacematrix tool relates site coverage, floor area ratio and height to show that the same density admits very different forms. The current debate pits those who see densification as the only way out of the housing crisis against those who fear that without public policy only prices will densify.
Videos on this term (22)
- Urban AI
Proximity Transforms: Edward Glaeser on Productive Cities
Edward Glaeser explains why concentrating people and firms makes cities more productive: agglomeration, human…
Edward Glaeser 3 min read - Urban economy
Jane Jacobs: How Life on the Streets Builds Safe and Vibrant Cities
Jane Jacobs argued that mixed uses, small blocks, old buildings and density keep streets alive and safe through…
Jane Jacobs 3 min read - Urban geopolitics
Rem Koolhaas: Manhattanism, Bigness and the Generic City
Rem Koolhaas explains what happens when the city grows faster than the planner's control: Manhattanism, Bigness,…
Rem Koolhaas 3 min read - Urban AI
William J. Mitchell: The Future City, Information and Connection
William J. Mitchell anticipated in City of Bits, e-topia and Me++ the hybrid city of matter and information: the…
William J. Mitchell 3 min read - Urban economy
The House With a Yard That Is Quietly Bankrupting Your City
Dispersed detached housing gives municipalities fast revenue and leaves an unpayable maintenance debt: Charles…
3 min read - Urban ecology
Smart for Whom? The Other Side of Smart City Rankings
Smart city rankings do not describe the city but define it: what they measure, what they omit, how weighting…
3 min read - Urban form
Rem Koolhaas: Delirious New York and the Culture of Congestion
Delirious New York, Rem Koolhaas's retroactive manifesto: the culture of congestion, Rockefeller Center as a city…
Rem Koolhaas 2 min read - Urban geopolitics
Michael Peter Smith: Transnational Urbanism and Global Cities
Michael Peter Smith argues in Transnational Urbanism that globalisation is made by migrants and networks in…
Michael Peter Smith 2 min read - Urban geopolitics
Bob Jessop: The State and Neoliberal Urban Restructuring
Bob Jessop explains how the state moved from Keynesian welfare to competitive workfare and what it means for…
Bob Jessop 3 min read - Housing
Loretta Lees: Urban Regeneration as State-Led Gentrification
Loretta Lees shows that urban regeneration demolishes public housing and scatters communities in the name of social…
Loretta Lees 3 min read - Shrinking cities
Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff
Charlie LeDuff narrates in Detroit: An American Autopsy the collapse of the Motor City: relocation, white flight,…
3 min read - Mobility
The Right to Mobility: Social Justice in Urban Transport
The right to mobility is the right to get there, not to move. What David Harvey and Susan Handy explain, what…
3 min read - Urban psychology
Urban Design and Mental Health: Lessons from Whyte and Gehl
Urban mental health depends on how streets, plazas and parks are designed. What William H. Whyte and Jan Gehl…
2 min read - Public space
Jane Jacobs: the street as the engine of the city
Jane Jacobs showed in 1961 that mixed uses, density and active streets keep a neighbourhood safe better than any…
Jane Jacobs 2 min read - Urban geopolitics
The Endless City by Burdett and Sudjic: The Global City Compared
The Endless City (2007) by Ricky Burdett and Deyan Sudjic compares with maps and data New York, Shanghai, London,…
3 min read - Mobility
Efficient Public Transport: Lessons from Cervero and Kenworthy
Public transport decides whether a city is sustainable and accessible. What sets working systems apart according to…
2 min read - Urban economy
Triumph of the City by Edward Glaeser: Why Density Matters
Triumph of the City (2011) by Edward Glaeser argues that the dense city makes us richer, greener and healthier.
Edward Glaeser 3 min read - Urban form
The 15-Minute City: What It Is, How It Works and Its Critics
Carlos Moreno's 15-minute city brings housing, work, services and leisure within a quarter of an hour on foot.
3 min read - Mobility
Sustainable mobility: Newman, Banister and Kenworthy
What sustainable mobility means for Peter Newman, David Banister and Jeff Kenworthy: car dependence, density,…
2 min read - Urban ecology
Territorial Planning and Compact Cities Against Sprawl
Territorial planning curbs urban sprawl with compact cities and protected land. What Richard Forman, Reid Ewing and…
3 min read - Urban form
The Horizontal City and Suburbanisation: Fishman and Hall on Sprawl
The horizontal city grows outward with low density, cars and highways. How Robert Fishman and Peter Hall explain…
3 min read - Urban psychology
Post-Pandemic Cities: How COVID-19 Redefined Urban Space
Post-pandemic cities accelerated tactical urbanism, remote work and awareness of health inequality.
2 min read
