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The answer, he says, is to establish a common vocabulary. "In my opinion, which is based on my practice in Ohio and Tennessee, I would say low density is one to seven dwelling units per acre, medium density is seven to 14 per acre, and high density is 14 and over. These numbers may seem arbitrary to some, but they generally correspond with what Kevin Lynch said in his classic book, Site Planning, in which he analyzes different types of development."

Talk up the benefits

Other strategists also advise that planners re-think their approach. "Get away from the technical definitions of density and talk about the benefits," says Peter Srnirniotopoulos, whose Alexandria, Virginia, firm does strategic planning for private and public sector clients. Smirniotopoulos is a former redevelopment official for the city. "We always hear from people that they want a cafe, a bakery, and a bookstore. But all these businesses depend on a certain amount of street traffic. They're a function of density. We try to get people to understand that you need a certain amount of density at a certain household income within a certain radius to support a grocery store. "Get away from X units per acre," he says, "and get to a definition that will resonate with people: 'At this level we can support this...or that.'"

He loves New York

In a new book called Cities in Full, published earlier this year by APA's Planners Press, Steve Belmont defends higher density as a way of shaping urban neighborhoods. Belmont is an un-abashed city lover. Cities, he writes, "have such innate land wealth that they could control their own future. Instead, they're locked into their low densities, and growth is increasingly forced into suburbs."

One city has largely escaped this consequence, and that's New York, where Belmont, an architect, lives part of the year. "My neighborhood at the eastern tip of Midtown Manhattan is as dense as a neighborhood can be. Yet it's similar in many ways to Henning, Minnesota, the small town I grew up in—or at least the way it used to be. We can walk to everything, without depending on a car. There's so much vitality." In contrast, Minneapolis, where he practices, "insists on maintaining obsolete, low-density zoning."



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