ABSTRACT
Due to urbanization and the rising demand for housing and infrastructure in recent years, new buildings and houses are proposed, planned, and rapidly built in metropolitan areas. Thus getting the Indian cities right, in terms of density, is often seen as challenging. It is often seen that high density results in cost-effective and improvised public transport network, promotes efficient use of energy in buildings, and creates a varied range of housing options, but at the same time also leads to more traffic issues and pedestrian casualties, urban heat island effect, weaker ecosystems, lack of privacy and adequate sunlight.
Urban density, as a concept has many layers attached to it, making it difficult to consider while preparing comprehensive policies or strategies for development. It is also a matter of concern about what researchers include and exclude in their perceptions and study of density, often lacking clarity about the understanding of this term. The concept of density in urban studies has been defined and measured in several ways by researchers but lacks integrated understanding of the various forms of densities and their measures. It is, therefore, necessary to address each factor that constitutes the term ‘urban density’ and the tradeoffs between them.
City planners and decision-makers need to not only consider population and dwelling density but also address the other forms of densities that potentially impact the functioning of neighborhoods or cities. Decision-makers must take these multilayered perspectives of density into cognizance while proposing policies for existing and future developments. With a view to this, the paper outlines various perspectives of urban densities in city planning, based on literature, as a structuring approach for integrating knowledge about this term. It shall also illustrate details about how each form of density can potentially impact the urban areas. Each perspective shall bring distinct insights about the multi-scalar measures of urban density to support research, identifying driving factors of densification and further help in the decision-making process for density and understanding how each measure of density performs in the functioning of neighborhoods.
