Christopher X J. Jensen
Professor, Pratt Institute

Urbanization is not urbanization: density, not size, drives sustainability

Posted 16 Oct 2015 / 0

Scientific American Graphic Science “Bigger Cities Aren’t Always Greener, Data Show
I do not love the headline here, because it suggests that size rather than density is the issue at hand. It is pretty clear what this data show: building low density cities is not sustainable. The issue here is that we call large suburban developments “cities”. In my eyes, if you want to talk about the sustainability of cities you need to be clear what a city really is: it is not just a big area with a lot of people, it is a high-density settlement of people. When people move to more dense cities, their ecological impact tends to go down.

A Minor Post, MSCI-271, Ecology for Architects, Pollution, Population Pressure, Public Policy, Resource Consumption, Sustainability, Sustainable Urban Design, Urban Planning, Web

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