Urban Density – a measure of population or relationships?

Higher density is credited for allowing many of the benefits of city life to develop – effective transit, services, diversity of options, opinions and places. If we conceptualize urban density as an indication of “people per unit area” we can see this quite clearly. (In many developing cities and cities throughout history we can also see density as allowing for the spread of disease and pollution). Jane Jacobs credited the city with generating many social and technical innovations throughout history – the diverse opinions and minds all in the same place, communicating and interacting in relationships allowed innovative leaps to take place at a much faster rate and at a much deeper level. But really, she wasn’t conceiving of density as a measure of population over area, she was focusing on the relationships. With the rise of new media and communication tools – notably the telephone, and more powerfully the internet – the density of relationships that can be supported in a given area has skyrocketed. This new increased social density should be used to augment the existing social relations in cities. If cities posses great social-relational density now, then building deeper networks and incorporating more people will only allow for social and technical innovations to occur at a greater rate. Importantly, the web can allow us to develop new social spaces within cities – social groups spread out over a large area of the city can now connect, communicate and organize more effectively. I think that we as a society really need to research the capability of the internet to augment and expand networks and social-relational density in cities. These tools aren’t just bringing new and increased connectivity, they are really creating new spaces for construction, interaction, opposition, collaboration, innovation and expression.

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