While reading the Urban Design Compendium produced by English Partnerships, I was impressed with some of the suggestions for alternate density metrics when determining the appropriate scale of development and character of existing communities.
- Dwellings Per Hectare
- Square Meters Per Hectare
- Floor Area Ratio
- Bedspaces Per Hectare
- Children per Hectare
- Economically Active People per Hectare
The last two are particularly telling when it comes to community cohesion and long term viability. Children are huge economic and social drivers, with so much infrastructure based around the number of children being serviced in an area.
It certainly opened my eyes to the sociology side of planning and determining the character of a neighbourhood to see metrics like this discussed.
Does anyone have other examples of metrics for density, or examples where these have been used?
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well the Square Meters Per Well the Square Meters Per Hectare is easy!
Sure is, but does it mean Sure is, but does it mean much in an area where houses are really big, (or small), or where there is a large number of holiday type houses that may be vacant in the off-seasons?
I think that’s where these other metrics come into play.
for a simple example, the for a simple example, the number of the children determines the number of classes in school,and then the space scale of land use for school.