Honey, our world is shrinking!

Do you recall the lyrics of the Bee Gee song: “When we were small, and Christmas trees were tall…”? Well, now that we are tall, our neighbourhoods seem pretty small. No case of mind games here – our world is indeed becoming smaller! And not because our perceptions are changing, but our neighbourhoods are developing at an alarming rate. Densification became part of our reality. And we willingly buy into this concept, we perceive it as an inseparable component of our urban existence. Evidence of prosperity. The selling point is we are creating more livable cities without looking at the full picture.

Densification is the process of increasing the population density of an urban area by adding more housing units and/or increasing the number of people living in existing housing. And it is sometimes perceived as a necessary evil, because our populations are continuously growing, local authorities are under pressure to accommodate more and more households.

Like everything else in life, densification has its benefits and drawbacks – Let us consider the benefits first:

• Increased affordability of housing: By increasing the
  supply of housing, densification can help to lower the cost of housing.
• Reducing traffic congestion: more people equals increased use of public transportation increases, people are more likely to walk or ride their bikes etc, which all contribute to reduce traffic congestion. A couple of years ago, there were no e-hailing services in Mossel Bay. Recently we welcomed both Uber and Bolt.
• Increased economic activity: Densification can lead to
  increased economic activity as more people require more businesses and services.
• Improved public transportation: Densification can make it more feasible to invest in and improve public transportation – think for example of Metrorail or Gautrain.
• Revitalisation of urban areas: Densification can help to
  revitalise older urban areas by bringing in new residents and businesses – upliftment of inner city projects.
• Slowing urban sprawl – by re-using existing facilities, we do not develop areas outside the current footprint.

The promised downside:

• We increase the strain on existing infrastructure such as roads, schools, and parks.
• Loss of privacy: People living in closer proximity can lead to a loss of privacy.
• Increased noise and pollution: Densification can lead to
  increased noise and pollution.
• Potential displacement of existing residents: Densification can lead to the displacement of existing residents, particularly
  in low-income neighbourhoods.
• Increased pressure on natural resources such as available water – a resource that is already under severe strain in the country, air quality – we add more vehicles on the road,
  increased emissions
• Inevitable increase in waste generation and we need additional land space for waste disposal facilities, because our society still has a “throw away” mentality.
• We do not keep the social impact in mind – increase in crime, increased risks on safety, adding pressure on social services such as police services and welfare .
• We require additional support structures such as hospitals, more schools, bigger mortuaries and cemetery space or more crematoria.

If we keep in mind that the country is already struggling to supply electricity to existing consumers, our water supply networks have not been maintained and the collapse of these systems is a growing possibility. A case of not if, but when.

We have a shortage of trained educators, medical professionals, engineers, and skilled workers. We already don’t have adequate hospitals, the public medical services is on the verge of collapse in eight of our nine provinces, the majority of municipalities do not have functional waste water treatment plants, our road networks cannot cope, and our public transport services are inadequate.

A few points to ponder in closing:

Densification requires careful planning over a significant period of time. It requires profound understanding of the social, cultural and environmental impacts.

We need to accept that densification will not be the most preferable solution in all instances.

We need to retain and preserve the character of existing neighbourhoods – at what stage does a town sell its character?

Before we try to sell a densification project, we should have the infrastructure and resource answers – those should be the selling points of the proposed developments.

Always consult with the public in the affected areas – that troublesome element of any development.