Fifty free copies of my article in @urbgeog on urban densities can be accessed here. I add a few thoughts and footnotes to this article below: tandfonline.com/eprint/Q7WFSXF…
Since this is a special day for @jaypitter, I am dedicating this short thread to her. As we seek post-#COVID19 priorities for planning & urbanism we must thank Jay for her stellar essay on the subject of density azuremagazine.com/article/urban-…
Jay’s piece has led to unprecedented reaction to the topic, even mea culpas, among (Toronto) urbanists and much international recognition. Congrats!
A few months on, we can attest that Jay’s admonitions have survived the moment in which they were born, and most urbanists and planners have not been comfortable in retreating to their lairs in the Victorian city but remain open to the challenges she put before us.
My short piece at the beginning of this thread is part of a special issue in @urbgeog, curated by @ColinMcFarlane3 @hungying_c @chowdhury_romit & @PriyamTripathy_ and linked to their research project on the matter of urban density tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…
It contains excellent contributions by @HRuszczyk @XazaarAdjame @JennyRo15764280 @FsjBlanc @timwhite100 @SarahEKnuth @nate_millington @jostehlin and others not on Twitter.
A similar and also insightful international comparative discussion on matters of urban density can be found in this new book by South African scholars Margot Rubin, Alison Todes, Phil Harrison and Alexandra Appelbaum elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/97…
(It includes a chapter by @muratucoglu @kmuratguney and myself on Istanbul elgaronline.com/view/edcoll/97…)
A few more comments and footnotes, then, to fete the inspiring @jaypitter in the form of a Monday School on density. School’s out in the real world. So, Twitter will have to do for today. Bear with me, please.
We must avoid going around in circles. We have had these debates for ages and there are some milestones we should revisit to remind us. For most in Toronto, this debate remains stuck with Jane Jacobs’s ideas. We must do better.
For me, it all starts with the clarity of thinking in the work of the inimitable Peter Marcuse who is well known to urbanists not least through his recent book with @Davidjmadden versobooks.com/books/2111-in-…
Marcuse’s short essay Density and Social Justice: Is There a Relationship? A Historical Examination. Columbia Documents of Architecture and Theory (D). 3: 50 87 is a good introduction but it is not easily accessible.
Perhaps try this one instead: pmarcuse.wordpress.com/2014/07/01/blo…
It is based on New York. But that is not far from Toronto.
It is based on New York. But that is not far from Toronto.
Some time ago, I used Marcuse’s inspiration for two related blog posts that go to the heart of the matter of density in the past: suburbs.info.yorku.ca/2014/02/suburb… and suburbs.info.yorku.ca/2012/10/fixing…
On the academic side, and away from North America, based more on his remarkable work on India, there is @ColinMcFarlane3’s essay journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03…
But, if this academic approach is not your thing, you can listen to Colin’s fine contribution to the @political_urban podcast here: urbanpolitical.podigee.io/21-density_mcf…
For more academic fare on the matter, particularly if you are interested in questions of urban design, check out the definitive Cities by Design by Fran Tonkiss politybooks.com/bookdetail/?is….
Read the entire book but if there is a take away for this current discussion, it is certainly this: “There is clearly no tipping point at which ‘good’ density becomes ‘bad’ density: this can change given context, over quite short spaces of time, and for different individuals.”
I have summarized my own thoughts in a longer academic article myself, not surprisingly from the suburban angle: ingentaconnect.com/content/alex/b…
If this is inaccessible due to paywall, there is also a bit of it in my book Suburban Planet wiley.com/en-ca/Suburban…
or just send me an email.
or just send me an email.
Finally, my main interest in this question of density is not driven by design in general or the impositions of the current pandemic but by my long standing belief that density issues are directly related to the accumulation of capital as their main driver.
The politics of sprawl, the quest for missing middle housing and the 15-minute city have to be seen in this context but we need to postpone discussion of that for some other date.
Let me, then, leave you with a thought by Peter Marcuse: "Planning for density without considering class race and gender is likely to produce proposals biased in favor of business uses and upper-income classes against the poor and working classes; …
…in favor of white against African-Americans; and in favor of men against women. …. Early generalizations, such as those prompted by Jane Jacobs' work in the West Village, overlooked this lesson." And this brings us back to @JayPitter. Thanks for listening. Fin.
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