Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'd say maybe 12,000 to 15,000 people per square mile might be ideal. At that density, much of the housing is probably multi-family but isn't really crowded or high-rise. Cambridge, MA is about that density and is walkable and lively.
Density is just a number. I don't really care if the density is 200 people per square mile or 100,000 people per square mile as long as it's executed properly.
don't let the density hounds here you. they will run you out of town
Quote:
What do I mean? Well high density areas often work because of layout and scale, not necessarily the number of people living within a given square mile. Manhattan is very high density but it works because you have wall to wall buildings, pedestrian friendly streets, good public transit, and parks scattered about to provide respite from the cityscape. On the other hand, Co-op City, also in New York has a very high density but it's a complex of high-rise towers set in grassy yards surrounded by low and density suburban retail. It's a nightmare.
Long story short, the built environment is FAR more important than an arbitrary density number. Different places cram people together in different ways. High density can be an absolute nightmare if done poorly (like Co-op City) but high density can also make for a wonderful environment if done well (like Manhattan, San Francisco, Boston, etc). I don't care about the number, I care about the setup.
My county has a population density of 4 ppsm. The area where I live might be 5. The longer I live here, the more cramped it can sometimes feel. I'm 15 miles from the nearest urban area; it's a twenty minute drive on two lane roads. It would be quicker if the first two miles weren't gravel as well as somewhat steep and winding.
There's a very large museum in town that's affiliated with the Smithsonian. Any street or alley is safe at any hour of the day or night. Where I live I can see the stars.
You're telling me that the places of the teeming hordes are the only desirable places to live? I've lived in cities; my experience indicates that they are the centers of big or little hells.
I live in a county with a population of 20 ppsm and find myself occasionally wishing that some of these people would leave so it wouldn't be so dang crowded around here.
It's winter. The leaves are down. I can see my nearest neighbors house. Well, his roof anyway. OK, part of his roof. Totally hate that.
I live in a county with a population of 20 ppsm and find myself occasionally wishing that some of these people would leave so it wouldn't be so dang crowded around here.
It's winter. The leaves are down. I can see my nearest neighbors house. Well, his roof anyway. OK, part of his roof. Totally hate that.
lol, I don't know why some would think everyone would be a density freak.
If the cities are layered, with lots of aerial streets, bridges, pedways and public transportation on multiple levels, there will be far less crowding even while the population density might be incredibly high.
And besides, some day we may very well need all of that open space near central cities in order to have an easily accessible local food supply which doesn't require burning huge amounts of fossil fuels.
If the cities are layered, with lots of aerial streets, bridges, pedways and public transportation on multiple levels, there will be far less crowding even while the population density might be incredibly high.
And besides, some day we may very well need all of that open space near central cities in order to have an easily accessible local food supply which doesn't require burning huge amounts of fossil fuels.
pfff there is always Mexico and Canada and China to feed us
I just returned from Dallas last night, so whatever the ideal population density is, it needs to be higher than that for me. There's just a ton of open land in the city limits. I don't need Manhattan-type density, but it is nice to have a decent portion of the city that is walkable.
I just returned from Dallas last night, so whatever the ideal population density is, it needs to be higher than that for me. There's just a ton of open land in the city limits. I don't need Manhattan-type density, but it is nice to have a decent portion of the city that is walkable.
The density of the city of Dallas is about 3700 ppsm- Just a little over low density on my scale.
NYC has a density of 27 000 ppsm, and urban density of 5400ppsm
DC has a city density of about 9800 ppsm (the land areas is about 6 times smaller than that of Dallas)- approaching high density on my scale.
I personally would like high density like 25,000 people per square mile average in a core city like Manhattan. Around it, I think it would go down to around 16,000 ppsm which is like San Fran. The "suburbs" would be a MINIMUM of 7000 ppsm but it should never go lower than that, and even that I would consider semi-sprawl and obviously there can only be a small number of that and a limited supply. With 7000 ppsm, you would still have single family detached homes, but they'd be like Chicago's inner city neighborhoods. Not the bungalows, but the sorta brownstone/rowhouse type things that are detached do you know what I mean? They would be spacious if they had 3 floors plus a basement, and even have a small background and front lawn away from the road. Maybe it'd be 25x100 or 35x100 plot of land per house. Anyways I hope the density would be quite high because we need people to use less land so as not to destroy the enviornment yet they will still want to be comfortable without being too scrunched up.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
