Introduction: rethinking urban density

ABSTRACT

In this piece, we introduce a special issue on “Rethinking Urban Density” which asks: what are the meanings and implications of density in cities today? How might we understand and research it? This collection offers a set of reflections on urban density in different parts of the world. Ranging from the urban forms, lived experiences, and perceptions, to the policy trends and politics of urban density, authors in this collection explore together the dynamics and implications of urban densities in cities of the global South, East, and North. Emerging from the 2019 Rethinking Density workshop in the Department of Geography at Durham University, this evolving dialogue on urban density identifies some key debates and critical reflections on wider urban processes and futures.

KEYWORDS:

• Density
• urban theory
• inequality
• politics

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No. 773209). We also thank the Department of Geography at Durham University for their excellent help in the organisation and running of the workshop, Rethinking Density, which led to this special issue.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the H2020 European Research Council [773209].