ABSTRACT
This interest in the compact city follows three main threads-environmental, social and economic. The desire to promote sustainable development, particularly across the range of environmental issues, is the primary focus for current promotion. The concern for security and the stimulation of activity in the city (see for example Comedia, 1991; Poole, 1991) has given rise to questions as to the sort of lifestyle in which people should or can live and work, this being the social thread. A third strand is the competition between cities on regional, national and international levels to capture investment and consumption activities for economic sustainability in a restructuring global economy (Smyth, 1994). While these three threads embrace social, economic and environmental issues, for example cost-benefit analysis is an economic tool applied to environmental issues, the proposals for implementing the compact city are most frequently couched in physical terms. This is because it is tangible, the most easily controllable and in political terms has the fastest
impact because it is noticed whether or not the desired social or economic effects are achieved. It also dovetails with the concern for the environment and sustainable development.
