Urban density is a term used in urban planning and urban design to refer to the number of people inhabiting a given urbanized area. As such it is to be distinguished from other measures of population density. Urban density is considered an important factor in understanding how cities function. Research related to urban density occurs across diverse areas, including economics, health, innovation, psychology and geography as well as sustainability. Urban planning is concerned with the ordering and design of settlements, from the smallest towns to the worlds largest cities. ... Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities. ...

Urban density and sustainability

It is commonly asserted that higher density cities are more sustainable than low density cities. Much planning theory, particularly in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand has been developed premised on raising urban densities, such as New Urbanism, Transit-oriented development, and Smart growth. The New urbanism is an American urban design movement that arose in the early 1980s. ... Aerial view of growth patterns in Arlington County, Virginia. ... Smart growth is a concept and term used by those who seek to identify a set of policies governing transportation and land use planning policy for urban areas that benefits communities and preserves the natural environment. ...

However, the link between urban density and aspects of sustainability remains a contested area of planning theory. Many experts on sustainable urbanism argue that low-density, dispersed cities are unsustainable as they are automobile dependent. Others counter that raising densities results in more expensive real estate, greater road congestion and more air pollution. At a broader level though, there is evidence to indicate a strong correlation between the total energy consumption of a city and its overall urban density, i.e. the lower the density, the more energy consumed. Sustainability is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future. ...

References

• Urban Density and Energy Consumption
• Deriving urban density in Greater Washington DC
• The Value of Density, New Zealand government website
• EPA website, Urbanization Indicator Descriptions
• 'The cost of smart growth revisisted: Consumer expenditures lower where sprawl is greater' Demographia website
• Newman, P and Kenworthy, J (1999) Cities and Sustainability: Overcoming automobile dependence, Washington, D. C. : Island Press ISBN: 1559636602
• Mees, P. (2000) A Very Public Solution: public transport in the dispersed city, Carlton South, Vic: Melbourne University Press (ISBN 0522848672)

Peter William Geoffrey Newman, born in Perth, Western Australia, August 20th, 1945. ...

External links

• Demographia website - density and other statistics for cities around the world
• Urban Density, Green Space and Sustainability research network website