Density: Just a fancy term for overcrowding?

Is urban density good or bad??? This is the type of question we'd prefer not to answer.

But if you're okay with a little nuance, hop on in while we take a stroll through what density means, what it does and doesn't do, and why the topic riles so many people up.

We talk about:

• What density measures
• Arguments people make against density
• Arguments people make in favor of density
• A theory on why density tends to be a fixation in North America
• Different ways to reach the same density
• How cars factor in (and cars always factor in!)
• What is overcrowding? And how that relates to "density"
• How talking about urban intensity allows for greater specificity
• And a lot more!

Links:

Want to learn more on this episode’s topic? There has been no shortage of words written on the virus and our cities. Here's just a tiny sample:

• June 1972 article from Psychological Review, titled "On the distinction between density and crowding: Some implications for future research" by Daniel Stokols
• June 22, 2021 article in Policy Options Politiques, "We need to focus on the problem of crowding, not density, in our cities" by Valerie Preston and Brian Ray
• June 1, 2020 TVO Today article, "Density is a planning problem. Crowding is a money problem" by John Michael McGrath
• January 2019 Governing, "Why ‘Density’ Is a Bad Word: It’s often used to describe how people live in urban spaces. But it shouldn't be." by Alex Marshall

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Check us out on Twitter and Instagram @webuiltitpod.

Hosted by AJ Fawver and Jordan Clark. Edited by Jordan Clark.

Music in this episode includes: Sounds of the Supermarket, Blue Dot Sessions, bummies. (on YouTube), a 1986 recording from The Weather Channel, lukrembo (on YouTube), C. Scott, Isaac Horwedel, and Dead Moon ("Too Many People")