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In the country, high-density is going green
High-density housing tends to be viewed as a design form for city centres but it is also attracting interest as a viable concept for a more rural setting.
In fact in Britain, some now see high-density as a cheaper way to meet the growing demand for greener "sustainable housing" among people who want to escape the city.
Niche-market developers have found that building eco-friendly, stand-alone houses with solar heating and rainwater baths can add many thousands of dollars to the sale price - but a lot can be saved if such amenities are shared within a high-density community.
If high-density rural developments also include shared gardens to create a "village green" atmosphere then so much the better, says Julian Brooks an eco-housing developer in southern England.
Mr Brooks now predicts that the UK market for this type of housing is going to soar. He estimates that 2006 will see about a1000 properties of this type built and sold and in the UK and that next year there could be twice as many.
One of the new-style high-density rural developments has just been completed in Langport, a small country town in Somerset.
The developers, South West Eco-Homes (SWEH), are promoting the concept as housing "that does not cost the earth" - but allows people to "live healthy lives with less impact on the environment".
But by Perth standards the cost of an SWEH house would not rate as cheap. At Langport, SWEH is quoting its eco-friendly three-bedroom townhouses at around $603,000.
Nonetheless, on its website, SWEH states its aim is to "make sustainable construction the norm rather than the exception in Somerset by 2010".
The Langport project is a mixed development that includes 12 new eco-homes, the restoration of an old warehouse and the reconstruction of a wharf that once formed the town's port.
The restored warehouse is to be used for "creative industries" and those who buy the eco-homes are also being encouraged to cut transport costs by using them as home-offices.
The 12 houses - constructed as two groups of terraced town houses - use locally sourced materials, solar energy, "harvested" rainwater - and the latest communications technology to "maximise the opportunity to work from home".
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Proximity and wellbeing
Australian research seems to suggest that from a social viewpoint, high-density works best if those living in close proximity to each other happen to be wealthy.
The newly published Australian Unity Wellbeing Index found that the highest level of "wellbeing" is most commonly seen in electorates with a lower population density.
But the index did find an exception to the rule - Melbourne's high-density federal electorate of Higgins, which includes such well-heeled suburbs as Toorak. Professor Robert Cummins, the Deakin University psychologist who wrote the report, thinks that many of the Higgins' electorate also enjoy ready access to low-density areas - through their holiday homes.
In fact, Prof Cummings suggested that the "pressures and alienation" that can be created by living in high density areas can be offset if people have more disposable income.
Young at the heart
According to a new study of UK cities, today's city centres with their high-density accommodation cannot be made "family friendly". Instead the researchers suggest that the best way to keep the modern centres thriving is to have them cater for predominantly young and single residents.
The study is the work of the Institute of Public Policy Research's new "Centre for Cities". It found many UK cities beyond London now have thriving populations in their inner core - but in the main the inhabitants are between 18 and 34, single and transient. The study found most people only lived there a few years and a third of residents moved in or out each year - three times higher than the national average.
At focus group meetings, centre researchers found that for the young residents, retail, leisure and nightlife were far more important than "art galleries and concert halls".
"Britain's distinctive, young-adult driven model of city centre living has enduring appeal - for the time being," said the study. "But families and older people prefer neighbourhoods with houses, parks, schools and healthcare. This is a great opportunity for planners and developers to improve deprived areas near the centre, rather than passing on the cost of family infrastructure in city cores."
