Designing Healthy Density
from Paradox to Nexus
T.T. Kraan (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
M.M.E. van Esch – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
D. Adlakha – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
In an increasingly urbanised world, inner-city densification is a key strategy for achieving sustainable urban development. However, this process often conflicts with urban health goals, giving rise to the Health-Density paradox: the tension between Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 for sustainable cities and communities, and SDG 3 for good health and wellbeing. This thesis explores how these contradictory objectives can be reconciled through design. Rather than seeking a universal solution, it argues for a context-sensitive approach by reconceptualising both urban density and urban health. Using the neighbourhood of Overvecht Zuid in Utrecht as a case study, the research investigates how urban densification strategies can be tailored to specific contexts in a way that promotes, rather than compromises, urban health.
This study applies a conceptual framework in which urban density is prescriptively defined through Floor Space Index (FSI) and Ground Space Index (GSI), while urban health is unpacked into eight determinants. The eight determinants are People, Lifestyle, Community, Local Economy, Activities, Built Environment, Natural Environment, and Global Ecosystem. The maximisation method structures the design process, enabling transparent urban design decisions throughout the process. The results suggests that targeted increase and decrease in GSI across the site can strengthen different health determinants. Although empirical data on the precise relationship between density measures and health determinants remains very limited.
All in all, this thesis demonstrates that the maximisation method can effectively serve as a design framework to operationalise the Health-Density nexus, offering a path towards urban densification strategies that supports urban health.