Cities are an increasingly important part of modern life, with an ever-growing proportion of the population living in megacities. Achieving the right level of density of our cities is a growing challenge as planners attempt to house the rising urban populations in often limited space.
In the past, the combination of high and low-rise developments has created a dependency on the car, with mid-rise developments tending to be most common for neighborhoods where people can walk to local amenities. It’s a form of development that research from the University of Melbourne suggests is still missing from many cities today.
The right mix
The relative paucity of mixed-density schemes doesn’t mean that considerable discussion hasn’t been had over the right way to do density well, however. The researchers believe that the use of various buzzwords can confuse attempts as phrases, such as Goldilocks density or EcoDenCity, can often mean different things.
In the world of city planning, deciding what’s the right amount of buildings and open spaces isn’t straightforward. It’s not just about numbers; it can change as time goes on.
To figure out the best density for a place, the researchers believe that you have to consider what’s happening there locally. Imagine a type of building called the “missing middle.” It’s typically three to seven stories tall and forms a block with buildings attached to each other along the streets, leaving a big shared courtyard in the middle. This kind of building design is well-known in Europe, like in Friedrichshain, but not as common in Australia and North America.
In David Sim’s book “Soft City” he talks a lot about this building style. He has nine criteria to judge how good it is, like having different kinds of buildings and open spaces.
The researchers believe that when we talk about “good” density, we might accidentally hide the fact that people have different opinions using fancy words. Instead, we should learn more about the different ideas and measurements of density and how they connect to what people experience every day in the city. To do this, we need more people to understand how urban density works through both formal teaching and just talking about it. This way, we can build cities that match the diversity of our societies.
