Population Density
Many counties throughout the nation have recorded no deaths from COVID-19. A perception exists that population density is responsible for the massive death toll in New York and New Jersey and that exurban and rural counties may be spared.
The New York Times
Early intervention, or population density? NPR reporters based in the Bay Area and New York City offer explanations as to why the two regions are seeing such a wide contrast in experiences during the coronavirus outbreak.
NPR
High population density is viewed as an environmental benefit in terms of decreasing emissions, particularly from transportation, but from the public health perspective of containing the spread of COVID-19, it might be a significant negative.
The Washington Post
A new analysis looks at how income and population density are related to car ownership and some ways that the design of cities can help lessen car dependence.
Slate
Facebook expects to release its worldwide maps of human density in the coming months—potential applications will likely be somewhere on the spectrum between humanitarian and commercial.
The Verge
The happiest people in Canada, according to a survey of life satisfaction, tend to live in significantly less dense communities than the least happy.
Daily Hive
Not only are suburbs growing, many of the larger, older cities that had reversed decades of population decline, are now losing population, again. The biggest losers: counties with the greatest population densities.
Governing
Urbanists, test your knowledge of urban economics. Familiar with the concept of agglomeration externality? Finance professor and Bloomberg View writer Noah Smith opines it's a major reason why American cities are not as productive as they should be.
Bloomberg View
A map-making effort by The Washington Post's Wonkblog puts the Western United States' population, or lack thereof, in perspective.
The Washington Post - Wonkblog
What, exactly, makes a neighborhood walkable? A new study published in the science journal PLOS-ONE begins to answer that question.
Streetsblog USA
Is there a relationship between carless households and density of college graduates? Derek Thompson of The Atlantic connected the dots using Michael Sivak's latest 'peak car' study and saw a relationship between the two variables.
The Atlantic
For urbanists who have reduced their carbon footprints by driving less and living more densely in smaller homes, researchers from UC Berkeley have some bad news. Your reduced emissions are canceled out by those in the suburbs ringing your city.
Los Angeles Times - Science Now
Micheline Maynard writes about an AASHTO study showing that the share of American families who don't own cars had been declining since 1960 but stopped in 2007 at 8.7%. By 2011, it had budged up to 9.3%. She suggests four reasons for the reversal.
Forbes
A new scatterplot mapping population density against political-party preference delivers old news: urban areas tend to lean Democratic, while rural places go Republican.
Atlantic Cities
As anyone who's raised an eyebrow upon hearing that Los Angeles is technically more dense than New York can attest, making city-to-city comparisons can be a confounding endeavor. Nate Berg goes in search of a uniform way to define the city.
The Atlantic Cities
Various rules and regulations control the form of today's cities. This info graphic and article from <em>re:place</em> looks at how those systems control the urban environment and how they compare.
re:place
