Future Proof CBD density: is it over-cooked?
The concern is that Future Proof has used 200 dwellings* per hectare in its total supply of future dwellings, and is not including the Hamilton Central rail station in its transport planning for moving this very high number of people living and working in the CBD. Future Proof is planning to enable up to 200 dwellings per hectare in the Hamilton Central City Area*. This dwellings per hectare rate is very rare in western countries. Let’s say there are two people per dwelling, giving a population density of 400 people per hectare or 40,000 people per km2. In London the most densely populated borough is Tower Hamlets at 15,794 ppkm2, followed by Islington with 14,589 ppkm2. Only 7 boroughs in London have over 10,000 ppkm2. Berlin’s most compact borough is Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg at 13,187 ppkm2, New York’s Manhattan has 28,872 ppkm2. In Paris, the 11th arrondissement has 41,620 ppkm2 and had 66,092 ppkm2 in 1911, showing it is not impossible, and there will be others, but they are not common. In 2007, Terry Farrell’s Manifesto for London showed a borough upper measure of 132 dwellings per hectare, and he also gave another measure of 151 homes per hectare. Farrell is an architect, so we should expect a bit of artistic licence in how numbers are presented, but even so he is not showing 200 dwellings per hectare in London.
The Melbourne Report on the Southbank (link) area included a mix of building heights found, and noted that: ‘Heights are considered to be of low desirability at single story and at heights over 10 storeys (p86)’, also stating that ‘Higher building footprints do not deliver higher densities than mid-rise buildings (p116)’. When the report looked at dwellings per hectare, only Barcelona was referenced at over 200 dph.
Future Proof is planning to enable between 50 and 200 dwellings per hectare in the Hamilton Central City Area*. Looking at dwelling density in western cities it is unlikely that a city would have more than 100 dwellings per hectare. If Central Hamilton also wants to be a Business District, this makes it even more of a challenge.
Inter-city rail – Future Proof proposes that the future public transport service for the Hamilton Central City Area be ‘Rapid and Frequent’, but does not include inter-regional trains. To me, this suggests it is under-using the rail station in central Hamilton. It is hard to find a modern city centre with a high population density, and one that wants to also be a high employment centre, that can move people in and out at peak travel times without rail supporting this movement.