The Compact City Revisited

Advocates of the compact city highlight the benefits of its relatively high density and mixed land use: an urban form which encourages walking and cycling, provides social and cultural vitality, with facilities in easy reach of residents and supports local businesses, as there is a larger population to serve. But is the compact city a relevant concept in the predominantly urban twenty-first century? This is an underlying question which contributors to this issue address from a number of different perspectives.

 

• Revisiting the Compact City
  Nicola Dempsey 
• High Urban Densities in Developing Countries: A Sustainable Solution?
  Seema Dave
• Is there Room for Privacy in the Compact City?
  Morag Lindsay, Katie Williams and Carol Dair
• Mixed Use Trade-offs: How to Live and Work in a ‘Compact City’ Neighbourhood
  Jo Foord
• Designing a Liveable Compact City: Physical Forms of City and Social life in Urban Neighbourhoods
  Shibu Raman
• Beyond Greenfield and Brownfield: The Challenge of Regenerating Australia’s Greyfi eld Suburbs
  Peter W. Newton
• Adapting to Climate Change in the Compact City: The Suburban Challenge
  Katie Williams, Jennifer L.R. Joynt and Diane Hopkins 
• The Future of the Compact City
  Nicola Dempsey and Mike Jenks