Project Densification Saves How Much Farmland?

By Mark Smith In California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, real estate development has an insatiable appetite for … farm land. The American Farmland Trust’s report Saving Farmland, Growing Cities places aggregate population growth and farmland consumption into perspective  The population of the San Joaquin Valley, now roughly 4 million, is expected to more... Read More

How Much Density?

By Mark Smith We are sometimes asked to explain ‘what is density?’ and ‘what is our position on density?’ In our view, the appropriate type and degree of density is locally and regionally determined, through community engagement and feasibility analysis. Planning may include a situational assessment of the economic and design influences on density, market and financial feasibility,... Read More

IT’S ABOUT TIME !

It’s About Time By Mark Smith Planned Densification LLC releases a video outlining some of our key considerations with Suburban Retrofit and Sprawl Repair–namely ridiculously mismatched timescales in real estate development and how so many things are ‘out of control’ in real estate development, because of the lack of functional control of the development... Read More

PLANNED DENSIFICATION – SELECTED BENEFITS

By Errol Cowan, PhD Planned densification (PD) was conceived of by Mark Smith in the 1990s and outlined in the June 2009 issue of Urban Land. The concept is simple and makes intuitive sense. As communities grow, their need and demand for accommodating density increases as does market support for it. Integrative long-term public and private planning for intensified future density... Read More

The Problem of Asynchrony and the Wedge

By Mark Smith Low-density development is often a result of the match between local market conditions and the financial feasibility determination for a building or project. Most instances of new construction occur in what Pario calls low activity, low value markets. Low value markets produce low revenue to developers, and low revenue does not support sufficient density, in key locations,... Read More

Let’s Pre-Enable Density So That We Can Accomplish It

Planned Densification is a process to overcome property-level economic obstacles to accomplishing higher density real estate development. Because of high overall construction costs, decreasing market prices, and troubled municipal finances—higher density development is now getting more difficult to accomplish at a time when density is increasingly important for economic development... Read More