The Diminishing Returns to Density: Built form and soft infrastructure costs

Conventional wisdom and the literature in urban planning suggest that high density built form is preferable to low density because it is more environmentally sustainable and results in lower hard infrastructure costs. This presentation entertains the other side of the argument: that high density built form can increase soft infrastructure costs, e.g., social assistance programs for low income households. A spatially disaggregated analysis of costs and density in Peel Region revealed that the per capita soft infrastructure costs in some instances were higher in high density, low income neighbourhoods. The assumption that high density is better than other built forms and its implication for municipal expenditures were discussed.