Housing density

From Appropedia

In theory, higher housing density can be cheaper, and allow for cheaper provision of services and public transport. Higher density housing in the form of apartments and terrace housing also has the potential to have lower heating and cooling requirements (an advantage for both sustainability and housing affordability). Local regulations often work against this however, for example density caps, height limits and requirements for housing setback. Some of these do have good reasons, but could arguably be solved in other ways with less restriction on density, thus less restriction on housing supply, and potentially/theoretically lower housing costs.

There are complexities of course - higher density housing does not make open green space a bad thing. However, higher densities mean more space left over for parks etc. We can have more usable public space, yet still have higher density overall.

In a compact city, travel distances are shorter, making journeys by walking, bike and public transport more appealing, with benefits for public health (physical and mental) sustainability, while reducing costs for commuters.

The environmental economies of scale mean that large buildings and large cities can be much more efficient^[1] Unfortunately this is not always the case - some apartments have a higher energy usage than houses, due to poor design and reliance on clothes driers rather than than clotheslines for drying clothes.^{[verification needed]}