Almost Everywhere.pdf

Urban density is often mis-conceptualised and mis-measured, with a lack of consensus on what should be dense and how it is measured, representing a difficulty for urban policymakers. The benefits of density are long-lived, providing convenience, prosperity, and environmental and economic benefits. Urban density is critical for emerging cities, offering a path from poverty to prosperity through scale and specialisation, with workers better matched with jobs and higher wages. However, there are downsides to density, including contagion, crime, and congestion, which can be contained through well-functioning governments. The concept of density has grown to include environmental and economic benefits, with proximity of people and places of work driving economic growth. Alternative density measures, such as floor area ratio (FAR), can better capture the benefits of residential, commercial, and mixed-use districts, and produce easier comparisons between cities. Despite the benefits of density, many places have missed opportunities to densify development, with population density in urban areas declining by 1.5% between 2000-2013, often due to un-planned and un-coordinated responses to high urban population growth and inherited colonial laws.