HIGH DENSITY LIVING – SHOULD IT BE FEARED OR DESIRED.?

High-density cities are thought of as over-crowded places with tiny apartments lacking privacy, with noisy and/or uncivil neighbours, nowhere to park a car, litter-strewn streets, NOISE and air pollution, etc.

Science-fiction movies usually portray post-cataclysmic cities as over-crowded dystopias – hellish places where fearful people scurry like ants past gun-toting fascist thugs and are forced to work as virtual slaves. Such a diabolical vision no doubt explains the extremely negative reaction most people have to the idea of a “City within a building”. People tend to think that anywhere with a high population density must be OVER-CROWDED, and therefore an awful place in which to live.

Even after carefully explaining that OA-Cities are intended as a VOLUNTARY lifestyle choice, fault-finders continue to utter idiocies like “so you want to FORCE everyone to live in these human hives?”.

The sense of crowdedness in city centres has as much to do with the dominance of motor vehicles as to the number of people

Whenever I go into central London, as soon as I get off the train I notice that everyone is walking much faster than they would in a smaller city.

The excessive city space occupied by motor vehicles confines pedestrians to narrow pavements (sidewalks) where funnelling pressure forces everyone to walk faster than normal. The sense of being RUSHED along whilst having to be careful not to step in the roadway, plus the relentless ROAR of traffic close-by, creates a constant feeling of STRESS and ANXIETY.

When motor vehicles are occasionally banned from city streets the relentless NOISE, which creates most of the stress, disappears. Pedestrians are no longer confined to narrow over-crowded pavements so they can relax and not feel they are being rushed-along. Where motor vehicle bans are made permanent, streets that were hectic are converted into spacious plazas with shade trees and seating, a place where everyone slows down and RELAXES.

Despite all the rushing and jockeying, most of us enjoy the social benefits that come with high density city-centre living. But once we have had our fill of shopping or dining-out, or whatever, we all want to retire to a comfortable, QUIET, and SAFE home. Preferably within easy walking distance or a short taxi ride. But most of us cannot afford the city-centre where homes are very expensive. Demand is so high because everyone hates the TIME-WASTE of COMMUTING. (Paolo Soleri regarded commuting as “time pollution”)

BARCELONA, for example, one of Europe’s most fashionable and vibrant cities, is a huge magnet for cruise ships, weekend “getaways” and buyers of 2nd homes. But how many of its enthusiastic visitors are aware that, at 40,000 per km2 (4x that of central London), it is Europe’s MOST DENSELY POPULATED CITY…? Especially the district of L’Eixample where also lies Gaudi’s famous “La Sagrada Familia” cathedral.

OASIS CITIES will offer all the benefits of living “right in the centre” whilst being QUIET, SAFE, AFFORDABLE and, last but not least, BEAUTIFUL..!

THE HIGHEST DENSITY CITIES ARE FLOATING CITIES

What is the population density of a cruise ship? The biggest ones can put up >6,000 people in luxurious state-rooms. Their dimensions are 360m long x60m at its widest point. So if one was beached on dry land, its “building footprint” would be about 20,000 m2 (2 hectares). 50 would fit into a field 1 km square, which equates to a pop’n density of 300,000 per km2. (excluding the 2000 crew). For comparison this is about 30x denser than central London and even 6x denser than the most densely populated parts of Hong Kong..! Perhaps a few grumpy guests have likened them to human hives, but probably the great majority thoroughly enjoyed being aboard.

And, rather than being surrounded by a peaceful sylvan sanctuary where one can wander in total safety, cruise ships are surrounded by the most hostile environment on earth – the open sea..!

So why would people pay hundreds of dollars a day for the privilege?   “Port calls?”.   Not necessarily because, although the travel aspect is obviously a big attraction for new or occasional cruisers, many “regular cruisers” prefer the long languid sea days and dislike the somewhat frenzied rush and queuing to disembark in some exotic but often grubby port.