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Density is a loaded word. For most people it has negative connotations, bringing up images of crowded, ugly, unhealthy places. But as I mentioned in my last post, it鈥檚 also a prerequisite for creating better communities. So, what鈥檚 to be done?

The answer is Design Matters! Plans and codes have often simply designated places for higher density without carefully thinking about how to design actual communities and provide the required public and private services that can make these places successful. Consequently, the real estate market 鈥� left to its own devices and enabled by zoning that allows it 鈥� often builds apartments in places that are not planned for good walkable access to services. Making matters worse, these buildings are often 鈥渃ookie cutter鈥� designs that are cheap to build and end up, in effect, being instant slums.

But doesn鈥檛 better design cost more? Yes, there is an upfront cost, but the alternative has proven to be far more expensive and creates a suburban landscape that does not foster a sense of community.

By contrast, well-designed communities have tremendous potential to reduce costs to society for streets, utilities and health care, for example, over the long term. They can also create the kinds of places that most people want to live in, where they can walk or bike easily in their daily lives, where kids and their parents feel safe, and the local economy thrives because people support neighborhood businesses. These communities are being developed, or redeveloped, all over the country, and Portland has often been a leader in showing how it can be done. Once again, it鈥檚 going back to the future, because these are the types of places that have been the American ideal for its entire history.

The other major benefit of the kind of community I鈥檝e been describing is that it helps address perhaps the biggest major hurdle that human civilization now faces: 聽climate change. More on that in a few weeks. My next post will be from Europe, and I will try to give you some perspective on this from Lisbon and Barcelona.