Key lessons to be learned about high-density living

Living in a denser London: How residents see their homes, a report by Fanny Blanc, Kath Scanlon and Tim White for LSE London and LSE Cities, is one of the many things that risk being overlooked as covid-19 continues to dominate our lives. The research was conducted between 2016 and 2019, and the report published in March this year.

Prompted by the realisation that “Londoners are in the midst of a city-wide experiment in built form”, it makes fascinating reading. Touching on history, politics, policy, affordability, land value, housing need and more, the main aim was simply to understand what it is like to live at high density.

The 14 selected schemes cover a range of tenures and typologies: 11 built in the preceding two to 10 years, and three historic ones for comparison. Architectural quality was not a factor, but the team decided to limit the sample to developments with at least 250 homes and a density of at least 100 dwellings per hectare (dph). It is a very low threshold by today’s standards; indicative perhaps of how quickly things have moved on in the past decade.

然而，范围是巨大的:43层的Strata SE1塔在南华克提供了400多套公寓，其密度高达1295 dph，令人瞠目。每个开发项目的住宅数量也差异很大，从彭伯里湾的268套(202dph)到东村的2818套(147dph)。

Using a range of research techniques including an online survey, focus groups and site visits, the team set out to answer five questions:

• Who lives in these homes?
• How did residents come to live in these schemes, and why did they choose them?
• What is day-to-day life like, and what are the pros and cons of high-density living?
• Do residents feel a sense of community in their developments and a sense of belonging to the surrounding neighbourhoods?
• What are residents’ housing aspirations? Do they consider their flats to be long-term homes?

他们收到了517份调查回复——8%的超低回复率本身就很有趣。在新方案中，78%的受访者住在一个或两个人的家庭中(伦敦整体的这一比例是61%)，大多数人年龄在40岁以下，比老项目的居民更年轻。在整个样本中，年收入变化明显，从低于1万英镑(8%)到超过15万英镑(6%)不等。

研究人员指出，“高密度的建筑形式产生的物理近距离本身并没有鼓励社区”。在新计划中，许多年轻的、没有孩子的居民非常明确地表示，他们对成为自己居住的社区的一部分没有兴趣，而且他们的社交网络在其他地方，在某些情况下在其他国家。良好的交通被视为更优先的事项。

阅读这一相当令人失望的发现时，我多次发现自己在想，封锁是否可能改变了事情——如果是，会改变多久。有孩子的家庭对他们居住的地方持积极态度，但存储空间不足和玩耍空间不足是常见的缺点。Covid-19可能也不会有帮助。

It is the interaction between density, design, location and people that creates a sense of place, and the greater the density, the more important it is to get the other factors right

While a mix of uses appears to increase the sense of community, it often takes time to establish; retail spaces are not always quick to let, for example. Tenure and length of stay seem to be the main factors, as tenants of social housing and owner-occupiers generally stay much longer than private renters, building up enough critical mass to foster a community spirit. Looking ahead, longer tenancies and ending no-fault eviction may help with that.

In itself, the density of a development was not a predictor of success in terms of resident satisfaction. The authors found that “it is the interaction between density, design, location and people that creates a sense of place, and the greater the density, the more important it is to get the other factors right”.

Wise words and timely. National and local policy now overtly support densification. The draft London Plan dispenses with the density matrix, putting the onus on the applicant to demonstrate that their proposal satisfies the policies set out in its 500+ pages. It is a big ask of everyone involved, not least the planners, who have to decide whether to grant permission.

>> Also read:The PM’s ‘build build build’ mantra is out of step with the public mood

Service charges and management also feature in the report (and the draft London Plan). Residents generally felt their blocks were well-managed but wanted a direct connection to those responsible.

在有这样一套方案的情况下，门房的价值很高。这并不奇怪，因为很少有私人租客会遇到他们所住的房子的主人。其中大多数是投资者房东，许多人来自海外，包括远东地区，在那里购买房产通常是大宗交易。

The report analyses the responses scheme by scheme and ends with a set of lessons that can be learned from the findings. They include:

• High turnover creates challenges for community-building in schemes dominated by private renting, especially when there are many individual investor landlords.
• New schemes can bring sudden sharp increases in local population. Necessary improvements in infrastructure and services should arrive with the new residents, not years later.
• Think creatively about how to provide enough storage for families; either within flats themselves or elsewhere - possibly by repurposing unused parking areas or offering basement storage units.
• 设计的住宅，其空间可以随着家庭需求的变化而轻松地重新配置。
• Having accountable on-site staff improves the liveability of new schemes.
• In many cases, it may be better to open amenities to the wider public rather than reserving term for residents only.
• Post-occupancy evaluations should become standard for all major schemes with the findings used to improve existing and future developments. Residents should be involved in these evaluations.

It is difficult to do justice to the report in 1,000 words. Do read it.