Urbanism without Density

Els Verbakel, Essay, expanding design practices, No Density, Politics and economics, Rafi Segal, Territory and mobility

Architecture, Built environment, Built Environment & Low Density, Built landscape, Cities, City challenge, City living, Collective city, Community, Consumption, Density, Entertainment, Essay, Flexibility, Greenery, Innovation, Leisure, Preservation, Public Space, Public space role, Transformation, Urban design, Urban growth, Urban infrastructure, Urban planning, Urban realm, Urban space, Urban sprawl

Our built environment is in the process of reorganizing itself, redistributing densities of buildings, population and activities. Cities are expanding, growing and sprawling, while at the same time their centers and downtowns are shrinking, disappearing, voiding out. This process of growth and redistribution has been partially described by terms such as sprawl, suburbs (with roots in the American context[1]), wild living and the diffuse city (‘città diffusa’, mostly referring to the European context[2]).