ABSTRACT
Many Pacific cities have adopted urban intensification as a way of managing urban growth and constraining urban sprawl, a key strategy in the UN SDG 11 “Sustainable Cities and Communities”. With growing populations, this requires new housing to be at higher density and using attached housing typologies. However, the question asked is: whether building at higher density will lead to resident housing satisfaction and well-being, where lower density detached suburban housing is more typical? Using a case study in Auckland, New Zealand, answers to this question were sought in a survey of residents in terms of their dwellings, the wider neighborhood, and any emerging “sense of community”. While the findings reveal high levels of satisfaction, and the crucial role that public places and spaces play when living at density, these are conditioned by a number of factors related to the development context and process.
