Population Density 101: A Visual Guide to Suburbs and Skyscrapers

Cities are fundamentally about living close to things you want, like jobs, schools, stores, services, and infrastructure, and that means living close to other people who want to access these amenities too. But cities and neighbourhoods vary enormously in density based on laws, geography, preferences, demographics, and historical development patterns. In this video we take a tour of population density in the U.S. and Canada, from semi-rural suburbs to ultra-dense downtowns.

Keep Urbanity rolling:

[josephsands]

I feel that of all the urbanist channels yours is the most "shareable" with people who aren't already urbanists. You two always clearly explain the topic without communicating in a way that might make people feel defensive. I've been inspired to be less snarky online by your channel 😂

[JRCody-dsec]

I always struggle to help people visualize that more consistent missing middle can be a low rise way to get densities just as high as towers. This is a very helpful video.

[Chocolate-wbbu]

Apartment sizes impact population density a lot too, rather than just height. For instance an eight story building could have 24 average sized apartments or just a handful of luxury apartments. A great example for that is Paris, where they don't build higher than 7-8 stories but have a population density double that of NYC.

[SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

It would be interesting to provide data for “density of small businesses” or something similar alongside each of these metrics.

Personally, I’ve found that reaching medium density makes it way easier for small shops and restaurants to survive. Even when they do go out of business, they get replaced very quickly because new investors see how much foot traffic there is and feel confident that they have a good chance at success.

[pjcanfield]

You guys, RMtransit and City nerd have all become my favorite urbanist creators very quickly! You all provide your unique takes that are backed up by a bit of actual research with strong evidence to support your claims! Plus it’s nice to see all your unique personal flair and ability to communicate with a general audience without coming across as condescending. I wish I was a little more talented because I got a few video ideas up my sleeve but I hope more urbanists take your lead and help us keep fighting the good fight!

[Arkiasis]

Another thing is that Manhattan was a lot more populated and dense 100 years ago than today. Since back then an entire family of 4-6 people lived in a single room.

[Alltoc]

Great video showing how a small difference in building height or parking availability can have massive effects on density.
I feel like more people need to see this.

[OhTheUrbanity]

For reference, here are the categories we used with conversions for square miles:

Semi-rural: 500 people per square kilometre (1, 300 per square mile)
Lower density suburban: 1, 000/km² (2, 600/mi²)
Medium density suburban: 2, 000/km² (5, 200/mi²)
Higher density suburban: 4, 000/km² (10, 000/mi²)
Lower density urban: 8, 000/km² (21, 000/mi²)
Medium density urban: 16, 000/km² (41, 000/mi²)
Upper medium density urban: 32, 000/km² (83, 000/mi²)
High density urban: 64, 000/km² (170, 000/mi²)
Very high density urban: 128, 000/km² (330, 000/mi²)

The density figures we used come from the 2021 Canadian Census and 2020 US Census, and there were calculated based on census tracts, which are basically small neighbourhoods of a few thousand people. Census tracts in red were Canadian, and blue were American. For some of the highest densities, census tracts didn’t provide great examples so we used smaller units (dissemination areas in Canada and census block groups in the US). The data was accessed in R (with the “cancensus” and “tidycensus” packages).

[m.e.]

It’s really interesting re: Montreal suburbs. They’ve always had multi family dwellings even before the suburbs. the small south shore towns had duplex type houses dating back to the 1800s. and when newer burbs like Brossard began in the 50s the first house type were the duplexes you see in st. Leonard. It’s almost like we skipped the recommended Levittown town plan like the rest of NA.

[Mrnevertalks]

It was really cool to show the different configurations of density. It seems difficult for people to wrap their heads around the concept of missing middle housing, and just how much density you can fit into duplexes, triplex, and quadplexes the size of a larger single family home. The neighborhood I live in has a population density of almost 16, 000 per square mile, but is still primarily SFH. We have lots of duplexes and small apartment builds spread throughout the area, so transit ridership and local commercial corridors can do alright. Putting buildings closer together and adding even a single floor does wonders for providing homes for people.

[dextervincent]

Something you didn’t quite cover in this is multi-family detached houses. ‘Triple Deckers’ are the bread and butter of New England cities and they allow Providence, for example, to reach Philly densities.

[kennj]

it would be interesting to see how car ownership varies with these densities. once your over a certain number it becomes expensive to find a place to park. my favorite neighborhoods were in Rio De Janerio. there are lots of 12floor apts with small elevators but nice stairwells. walking down the steps from high up was no problem. only time i really needed elevator was to go up high with groceries. what made it really nice was all the gardens and plants growing in narrow alleys that had little light. I realized later they were plants that normally lived in the forest with high tree canopies that shaded the forest floor instead of tall apartments.

[abdullahtshabal]

My neighbourhood in Tallinn has a population density of a bit over 15, 000 people per km2 - Much of it is 9-story commieblocks, but there is a lot of open green space (covering at least a quarter of the lot), a dozen schools, several small and medium-sized shops, 4 major retail chains and where there's roads, there are easily accessible bus stops. Also much of the lot is easily walkable. The only thing that gets crowded is the limited free parking spots in front of the apartment blocks. Also few apartments are over 50m2 in size, so are just perfectly sized for individuals or families.

[henryleitch]

Love seeing the way your footage from your trip to Halifax has seeped into your videos! It's a treat every time :)

[RURK_]

Density is probably my favorite city topic ever. Good urban planning mixed with a very population is a recipe for a very lively and welcoming place.

Great video!

[dropatrain]

Crazy how fidi has the highest density lot and yet feels like a ghost town on weekends.

[Snappy]

Great video and examples! I was stunned to see your very first example of neighborhoods at 500ppl/sqkm all look denser then where I live haha, and I looked it up out of curiosity and my area is 170ppl/sqkm!! Density here in Oklahoma is soooo low. I don't even live in a rural area—I'm right on the edge of Tulsa—it's just that low in our "exurbs" here. It's so bizarre living in what is considered practically a rural neighborhood, and yet having to commute into the city every day for everything. I love watching urbanist content like yours because it's such a refreshing contrast with what I've had to live with, and this really put it in perspective even more lol.

[starize]

great video!! it's so much easier to understand density as it's sometimes abstract without good definition and visualization

[Taladar]

I think if you look at density for areas that small there should also be some sort of measurement that describes the density of the surrounding area. After all a very dense building right next to a large park or forest is very different than a slightly less dense building embedded in other areas of similar density that has to provide its own green spaces.

[TomPVideo]

Wow! This video is really informative. I have a funny feeling it'll become part of the "welcome to urbanism" package when people discover this topic.

For me though, this video highlights what I'm seeing happen around me. The City of Vancouver is not shy about rezoning detached houses along arterial streets and I'm watching 5 detached medium-density suburban homes get replaced with over 110 apartments in a mid-rise building. That single building will have more people than several blocks of houses. And bring it on! We already have great commercial options here and more people will just make it better.