The new urban agenda

• Current thrust of policy & guidance
• Housing density
• Planning for higher density housing
• Models for practice
• Some of the concerns
• Full paper: town centre renaissance

The current thrust of guidance

• Brownfield not greenfield
• Urban capacity
• Relationship to public transport
• Higher housing densities
• Move away from prescriptive standards
• “Design-led” approach

Some of the best guidance in Europe…

• …but the practice?
• And yet: our own urban tradition

Housing Density

• An important component of the new agenda
• Avoid wasting land
• Keep settlements compact & convenient
• What do the figures mean?
• The range: “low”, “medium”, “high”

Density is an outcome…

• …not an input
• Not designing to numbers
• Designing for context
• Designing to objectives:
• Intensity, efficiency of land use..
• “Never mind the density, feel the space”