High Density Ascendency

I was very interested to read this article by Robin Murphy in WRI Insights where he writes about The Atlantic's 4th annual Green Intelligence Forum on sustainable cities last year and what's happening with housing in US cities.


Apart from the other things he says Robin explains how suburban housing is being submerged by higher density (and why).  Here's what he says (which explains it better than I can paraphrase) - 


Another fact: of 102 U.S. cities pursuing new long-term development plans, 99 moved to create more densely populated city areas. The age of non-dense suburbia may be passing, with demand for more efficient mobility as the main driver for people opting out of a life of lawns and leaf-blowers. The housing market implosion was not an accident but rather one waiting to happen. One speaker referred to it as the “collapse of the fringe” – simply stated, that the suburban model does not work anymore. People are tired of being isolated, far from work and services, sitting in traffic while burning ever-more expensive fuel. Richard Florida does not believe that a housing “recovery” is underway, but instead a complete “re-set” that will include an evaporation of suburbs and an increasing emphasis on what people prefer – walkable urban places with amenities and services.


It makes sense to me and reflects what I have been seeing for the last 10 years.  


So, whilst suburbia gets submerged ... high density ascends.


Francesco ...