Just wanted to point out a great website, “Visualizing Density,” a product of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy (LILP). I’m not feeling like my usual prolix self today, so I’ll let them do the talking:
Sprawl is bad. Density is good. Americans need to stop spreading out and live closer together. Well… that’s the theory, anyway. But, as anyone who has tried to build compact development recently will tell you, if there’s one thing Americans hate more than sprawl, it’s density… One reason people reject density is that they don’t know much about it-what it looks like, how to build it, or whether it’s something they can call home. We have very rational ways of measuring density, but our perception of it is anything but rational.
So to inject better thinking—and better perception—into the density discussion, LILP has created a truly awesome* collection of images of all types of densities, in many US regions and climates. Check out the gallery (update: free account req’d).
I do have one criticism, however. There’s virtually nothing from the Pacific Northwest. What gives, LILP?
All images in this post are copyrighted and used with permission. (Copyright: Alex S. MacLean, Landslides, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.)
*I don’t use the word “awesome” lightly.
Dan
Funny, I was on this site today too. I highly recommend scrolling thru the publications list. Eric, Harvey Jacobs has a good arty in Landlines that’s a good synopsis of his talk we saw.
jeffy
I almost didn’t look when I saw that the site required me to create a (free) account to see the pictures, but it was definitely worth it if that’s scaring anyone else off.Thanks, Eric!
Jon Stahl
Grr… sites that require registration just to let me look at anything really stink. Boo LILP! Sounds like good content though, I just wish they “got” this whole “web thing” a bit better. 😉
Eric de Place
Dan, thanks for the heads-up on that article. It’s a good primer for folks wanting a summary of the property rights debate and its history.
josh
I wish that I didn’t have to register to find out that they don’t examples of density from other countries.