ABSTRACT
The compact city is being promoted in the UK and throughout Europe as a component of the strategy formed to tackle the problems of unsustainability. The rationale for its implementation relies heavily on a set of strategic benefits, which are said to be the outcome of more compact urban forms. The arguments are, by now, familiar: in more compact cities travel distances are reduced, thus fuel emissions are lessened, rural land is saved from development, local facilities are supported and local areas become more autonomous. Although the actual effects of many of these claimed benefits are far from certain, for now at least, urban compaction is a policy direction which is being followed.
