Canadian cities are about as dense as German cities

[muppet]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

I'd say that those inner-city density graphs confirm the position advocated in the thread title. That is, for the inner cities.

Having travelled extensively in Germany (as well as of course, in Canada), our three biggest cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver) certainly hold their own on inner-city density, relative to Germany's three biggest cities.

I do find that medium and small cities in Germany are leagues more dense than their most of their Canadian counterparts. Our smaller cities are sprawling empires of stroads and banal big box barf.

German cities were obliterated in WW2, and many English cities had sections laid to waste by the Luftwaffe. I wonder if that is the primary reason for the relatively low inner city densities of Germany and the UK (vis-a-vis the rest of Europe)?

Although UK had its city centres devastated in WWII, much of the drops in densities came with the slum clearances in the 50s and 60s. A wave of suburbia, tower-in-the-parks, malls and parkland.
Nowhere as low a density as North America, but befitting the country of origin for most of those ideas. UK built the first suburbs and the garden city concept.

A lot of that was reversed from the 1980s due to population pressure -UK is actually the 3rd densest in Europe now, behind Netherlands and Belgium, adding half a million people each year by the 2010s.
If England was a country it would be the world's 8th densest non city-state, ahead of Haiti, Philippines, Japan. However a large amount of parklands remain despite being so crowded.




Brits endure the smallest average house size in the West (818 sq ft/ 76 sq m), lower even than Japan, by a quarter.
It shows the dichotomy of high living density despite seeming much lower in overall density -and the lived experience not matching the stats.

The same for the optics -many singular houses are actually converted to flats, such is the profitability of some of the world's highest prices, national average at $471 per sq foot/ $5070 per sq m.

Normal suburban rowhomes/ duplexes - although crammed together, they're still large houses with 3-5 bedrooms and a garden, often with extensions round the back:




However, on closer inspection this is now a norm (London at least). Every time I visit any of my mates I have to try and remember which doorbell:





A typical city -dense centre having filled in the malls and carparks from the 70s and 80s (you can see some still remain).
But look beyond at the inner city ring -that's not countryside but parks within the city limits. I imagine Germany, with much rebuilt postwar, and the onus on efficient housing but also green space, would be similar.