Delivering housing density to meet local living needs

A talk by Professor Husam Al Waer 17.00-19.00

Venue : the Offices of Carter Jonas, One Station Square, Cambridge CB1 2GA

Background

More than ever, we need to use land more sustainably and efficiently. This is vital for protecting agricultural land and landscape, increasing biodiversity and to promote general good health and wellbeing. Reducing low density urban sprawl and promoting living well locally, through intensification and densification for new and retrofit neighbourhoods may be one of best the ways to tackle some of the challenges in delivery new housing today.

Current planning policies emphasize that future and retrofitted neighbourhoods must cater for a wide range of family sizes, from families with children, to singles, couples and older and younger people too. They must also include alternative forms of housing, workplace types and remote working, together with varied tenures while being mindful of 21st-century living patterns, lifestyles, and resident aspirations. However, there is no definitive answer as to what this means for appropriate urban form and densities. This depends on location, responses to context, anticipated demographic mixes, the availability of existing or future sustainable public transport connections, along with the proximity of existing and new community infrastructure.

Creating compact or higher densities also raise several critical questions, particularly in the context of Covid-19, the future of liveable neighbourhoods, and climate mitigation, such as:

• How can we determine the appropriate density and urban structure needed to support facilities and services that enable local living and 20-minute neighbourhoods?
• Can the configuration of urban structure and urban form determine how (dis)connected or (im)permeable a neighbourhood is?
• How can higher and medium housing densities be effectively used to support mixed-tenure developments that are tenure-blind in both form and appearance?
• How can urban design and architectural strategies generate a critical mass of residents to sustain essential urban services, rather than merely meeting predetermined density targets?
• How can well-considered higher or gentle urban densities foster a stronger sense of place and community identity, while avoiding the negative impacts of overcrowding, loss of privacy, and poor living environments?
• How can the housing market respond to the growing demand for higher density living by supporting innovative design and planning approaches that ensure neighbourhoods remain liveable, compact, and adaptable without compromising quality?
• And finally, what would the benefits and risks be for the economy, health, and the environment in adopting higher density living in new neighbourhoods? For residents, traders, employers, and transport providers? For the old and young, families and singles?

This talk will explore whether creative, compact neighbourhoods or higher density living represents a welcome and effective way to support local living and organise urban life. It will guide the audience through key considerations, such as:

• Understanding and articulating the desired outcomes that politicians, planners, architects, urban designers, and other decision-makers aim to achieve;
• Correctly assembling the means—mechanisms, levers, triggers, and causal factors—necessary to develop at appropriate densities; and
• Defining the changes in systems and behaviour required to support its successful implementation and operation.

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Host or Publisher Urban Design Group