ABSTRACT
Many have tended to assume that high density inevitably brings with it a variety of social ills that result purely from cramming people together in what might be regarded as unnaturally restricted spaces. The implication here is that there is some minimum space required to sustain human life. This is not an argument about the very basic needs to grow food, manufacture goods and generate energy. It can be assumed in our modern technologically advanced world that these needs can be met by developments outside the high-density city. Whether organizing ourselves like this is sustainable at a planetary scale is dealt with by other authors in this book. The question here is about the social and psychological sustainability of high-density cities. This rather populist argument would have it that it is not possible to design healthy spaces and places at higher densities. But does such an idea really stand up in terms of what we know today?
