Check out this very topical article written by Carl Douglas of the AAA recently;
Density is one of the most pressing issues for architecture in New Zealand's cities. Auckland is renowned, or perhaps infamous, for its low density. Compared to cities of similar population:
Auckland (1.3 million inhabitants), 1 209 per square kilometer
Turin (0.9 million inhabitants), 6 994 per square kilometer
Fukuoka (1.4 million inhabitants), 4 061 per square kilometer
Mumbai (13.6 million inhabitants), 21 880 per square kilometer
Density is necessary. Density will occur. Densification is not something we are free to weigh up, accept or reject. Population growth and urban drift will produce higher density. More people must live in a smaller area. It is of course possible to refuse to acknowledge this, but if New Zealand were to continue to develop without increasing density in its cities, it would be unique in the world, and it would rapidly consume what most New Zealanders would agree it it's most precious resource: its land, air, waters, flora, and fauna.
New Zealanders, it is often asserted, require space and openness, and are therefore unlikely, or some might say, unable to live in a dense city. But openness is not opposed to density. On the contrary, it is density that permits openness. Density preserves or sustains openness. Is it possible to imagine a less open condition than that represented by the suburbs of Botany Downs, parcelled up by fences and split by six-lane roads?
Check out the rest of the article here
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