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Architecture vocabulary · Urban Planning and Design

Density

Meaning in architecture, with examples

/ˈdensəti/nounCommon term

In architecture, density means: How much building, or how many homes or people, there is on a given area of land, often measured in dwellings or people per hectare.

In Turkish: yoğunluk, yapılaşma yoğunluğu

How it is used

A key topic in housing and planning debates. Architects and planners talk about high, medium and low density, and about increasing or controlling density. High density does not have to mean high-rise: courtyard blocks can achieve it at low height.

Example sentences

  1. The scheme achieves a density of 120 homes per hectare with buildings of only five storeys.

  2. Residents worried that the new towers would increase density too much.

Common collocations

  • high density
  • low density
  • housing density
  • increase density
  • dwellings per hectare
  • floor area ratioThe total floor area of all storeys of a building divided by the area of its plot; a ratio of 2 means you can build twice the plot area in total.
  • urban sprawlThe uncontrolled spread of low-density development, such as housing estates, shopping malls and roads, into the countryside around a city.
  • mixed-useDescribing a building or area that combines different uses, such as housing, shops, offices and public facilities, instead of keeping them separate.
  • footprintThe area of ground that a building covers, measured by the outline of its outer walls at ground level.
  • master planA long-term plan for developing a large area, such as a campus, neighbourhood or city district, showing land uses, buildings, streets, open spaces and phases.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Urban Planning and Design

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