ABSTRACT
Introduction In South Africa, national housing, transport and urban development policies all promote the densification and compaction of urban areas and discourage sprawl in the interest of efficient, sustainable and integrated development. This policy accords with the generally accepted view that higher population densities over a smaller land area, as opposed to lower densities over a greater land area, lower the cost of providing public services. This is because shorter distances need to be traversed, and because of savings derived from economies of scale.
