Chapter 1: the working context

Dangers of sprawl and the virtues of compactness

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Thirdly it should be understood that dispersal, if taken beyond a certain point, positively complicates transportation problems by increasing all the distances that have to be traversed, Dispersal, in fact, can all too easily become synonymous with ‘sprawl’, and if there are not already sufficiently bitter lessons to be learned about sprawl in this country, one only has to turn to the United States to see what happens when the motor vehicle is given free license to lead development where it will.

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Fourthly, there are long-standing, well-tried advantages in the principle of compactness for urban areas which are not to be lightly jettisoned in favour of the supposed advantages of dispersal. In a compact area, journey distances, including the all-important journeys to work and school, are kept to the minimum. The concentration of people makes it possible to provide a diversity of services, interests and contacts. There is a wider choice of housing, employment, schools, shops and recreational and cultural pursuits. It is easier in a compact society to maintain the secondary activities, such as restaurants, specialist shops and service industries which all too easily fail if there is not a large enough clientele close enough at hand. The issue is not starkly between high-density flats and low density suburbs—it is desirable that towns should have some of both—but whether to maintain or abandon the degree of compactness and proximity which seems to contribute so much to the variety and richness of urban life.