What is the compact city?

The “compact city” is one of the most frequently cited concepts in sustainable urban development — yet it is not a single, clearly defined recipe. This article shows where the idea comes from, how it is defined, and which are the four features around which the next parts of the series revolve.

1.Where does the idea come from?

The compact city is one of the leading strands of sustainable urbanism. The term was made widely known by Dantzig and Saaty's 1973 book “Compact City”, but its roots reach back further. Ebenezer Howard's garden-city movement sought to combine the advantages of town and country. Some elements of the idea, such as the importance of green spaces and the idea of a diverse society, were passed on to the compact city too, while the promotion of low-density, single-family housing in fact fostered sprawl.

Clarence Perry's neighbourhood unit envisaged a pedestrian-scale residential environment equipped with institutions, while Le Corbusier's “Ville Radieuse” projected a combination of high density and rapid mass transit — both models drew serious criticism. Perry's concept reinforced the sprawl of cities and placed no emphasis on sustainable transport, while Le Corbusier's model intensified social segregation and did away with the traditional urban fabric. Jane Jacobs had already criticised modernist urban design earlier, arguing for mixed-use areas, high density, community participation and the local economy. It was from these debates that the idea of the compact city grew, which the EU's Leipzig Charter and the OECD's green growth policy also took up as a tool for sustainable development.

2.There is no single recipe

The elements of the concept are not easy to pin down, because there is no model that can be imposed on every city — compact city strategies must always be adapted to local circumstances. Dantzig and Saaty highlighted three main characteristics: a high-density city that is less car-dependent and clearly delimited from neighbouring areas; mixed land use and a varied way of life; and social equity together with everyday self-sufficiency.

Karolina Ogrodnik reviewed the definitions of the compact city in the literature published between 1996 and 2018. Taken together, they show that the compact city typically has a dense, mixed-use fabric, prioritises sustainable modes of transport, renews the city's run-down inner areas, and protects its public and open spaces.

3.The four recurring features

Four features emerge from the definitions, and they are at the same time the themes of the next four articles in the series: the dense, multifunctional urban fabric; the efficient, sustainable transport system; the renewal of run-down inner areas; and the protection of public spaces. Together they provide the framework within which the compactness of an area can be interpreted — and to which the diagnosis of District 18 also aligns in the second block of the series.