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Articles on High-density housing

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The lure of suburbia clearly remains strong. To deal with sprawl, planners need to increase urban density in a way that resonates with the leafy green qualities of suburbia that residents value. Julian Bolleter

GOD save us: greenspace-oriented development could make higher density attractive

Residents of the ‘leafy suburbs’ will continue to fear what they might lose to increasing urban density without an explicit planning approach that enhances green space in affected neighbourhoods.
A For Sale sign is shown outside a house under construction in a new subdivision in Beckwith, Ont., in January 2018. Conventional wisdom suggests urban-dwelling millennials don’t want to live in the suburbs and don’t want to raise children in a two-bedroom downtown condo. Is it really true? THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Challenging the myths about millennials and housing

If it’s true millennials are being squeezed out of the housing market in some of Canada’s biggest cities, here’s what we can, and should, do about it.
A living room rented by the minute and another room shared for sleeping – the age of the ‘distributed’ home is upon us. Ziferblat

Living rooms for rent by the minute outsource the whole idea of home

So you’re having to room share to live in the city. What if you need more than a place to sleep? Well, now you can rent a living room by the minute. Welcome to the world of distributed living.
So much for context – authorities are allowing large out-of-place buildings in the higher-density retrofitting push. Linley Lutton

Retrofitted cities are forcing residents to live with planning failures – we’re due for a rethink

Planners wish to correct past errors by increasing densities, discouraging car dependency and mixing land uses. But imposing imported strategies on Australian cities is producing unhappy results.
At first glance, old industrial sites, like this one in Carrington Street, don’t look like much. But they provide vital spaces for creative precincts to flourish. Paul Jones

Can our cities’ thriving creative precincts be saved from ‘renewal’?

A new project documents who uses urban industrial lands slated for redevelopment. It reveals a vibrant but largely hidden sector at the interface between creative industries and small manufacturing.
Green space, easily accessible to everyone no matter what their income, should be a priority in designing high-density residential areas. Marcus Jaaske from www.shutterstock.com

What’s equity got to do with health in a higher-density city?

Being crowded into poor-quality high-density units harms residents’ health, but design features that are known to promote wellbeing can make a big difference to the lives of low-income households.
Much of what is being built is straightforward ‘investor grade product’ – flats built to attract the burgeoning investment market. Bill Randolph

Why investor-driven urban density is inevitably linked to disadvantage

The inexorable logic of the market will create suburban concentrations of lower-income households on a scale hitherto only experienced in the legacy inner-city high-rise public housing estates.
Higher-density developments change neighbourhoods, often in ways that further disadvantage low-income households. Laura Crommelin

It’s not just the buildings, high-density neighbourhoods make life worse for the poor

For the first time in Australia, more higher-density housing than detached housing was being built last year. Compact cities have pros and cons, but the downsides fall more heavily on the poor.

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