By Helen LuiWe constantly hear about the problems with density: tiny shoeboxes in the sky, looming towers and their shadows, traffic congestion, and overcrowding. But despite popular discourse, denser living can actually be good for us and our communities.Density as healthDensity brings public services, transit, parks, and amenities closer together. When we can walk our
She’s right.
Density isn’t the enemy. Bad arrangement of dense population is.
I live in a very densely-populated city (1200/km² or 3200/sq.mi.) but it’s arranged semi-sanely. Within comfortable walking distance of my home are two parks, a Daoist temple, several schools at levels ranging from primary to 2nd-tier university, two (large!) farmer’s markets, three shopping centres (two of which have sizable supermarkets), uncountable numbers of restaurants ranging from holes in the wall to fancy banquet halls… You get the idea. Within 3 stops of the nearest subway station or 5 stops of the nearest bus stop all that expands dramatically. I’m not sure I could even realistically count them all except to say that it doubles the number of Daoist temples and adds a sizable Buddhist one. (The nearest church is about 5 subway stops away, maybe 6.) Outside of work (which is an hour’s commute by subway and bus away) I could live my entire life without being more than 20 minutes away from my home … and never be bored or finding myself in a rut.
I can’t say the same for Ottawa when I lived there. Hell, within fifteen minutes of DRIVING I couldn’t find much in most of the places I lived.
At first you had me thinking, there is no way 1,200/km² is very densely-populated. That’s like small town where everyone has a big lawn in the front and a pool in the back kind of numbers. But then I read 3,200/sq mi and realized you flipped the units.
That said, even 1,200/km² is perfectly dense enough to allow walkability to everything if done right. But the appeal of being a farmer is too great for the average person. They want to have to get into a vehicle every time they go to do something.
Flipped the units? I’ve never seen density measures as km²/person! Where are you seeing density measured as area per person?
We’re getting to the point where that’s neither here nor there because however much they want that, people can’t afford it.
That is true, but they are not going to down without a fight. Which is why we are seeing more and more “But please sir, if I can’t have car, at least how about a new train? I can’t be seen walking like pleb.”