The density of residential areas.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Housing and Local Government.
Date:
1952
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The density of residential areas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    24/86 (page 18)
    4-0 acres per 1,000 rooms. It might therefore be said as a generalization, that if flats are arranged in parallel blocks so as to secure adequate daylighting, the space-about-buildings is likely to be sufficient to meet the minimum needs of outdoor living, i.e. space for casual sitting out, pram parking, and play areas for very young children, but of course without any particular seclusion or privacy. 43. When flat blocks are arranged in a broken cruciform layout the general effect, compared with the parallel block layout, is to permit more accommodation to be placed on a given site (i.e. the density is increased) whilst still maintaining the same standard of day- lighting. There is therefore the danger with the cruciform layout that it will result in less space- about-buildings per habitable room than a parallel block layout on the same site. Even so the amount of space-about-buildings per room is not greatly different, and it can be said broadly that the open space available for recreation around flat blocks spaced for daylight is roughly equivalent in area to the gardens of two-storey terrace houses at high density, but without privacy or ease of access. 44. To summarize therefore, it might be said that for flats, spacing of blocks to ensure adequate daylighting will in general result in sufficient space-about-buildings to meet the needs of access, privacy within the flat, sun- lighting, and noise and fire insulation, and will also give outdoor-living space roughly equivalent in area to the garden space of high-density terrace housing. This outdoor-living space, whilst incapable of serving the same purposes as small individual gardens, is nevertheless sufficient to give the flats anagreeable garden-like setting, and, since it tends to occur, particularly in cruciform layouts, in sizeable rectangular areas, can be used to some extent for minor play areas or even for occasional tennis courts. It would, however, be a mistake to assume that this outdoor-living space, even though it may amount to the apparently impressive figure of 4 or 5 acres per 1,000 persons, is any substitute for public parks and playing fields in the true sense of those terms. 45. To illustrate these remarks about flats, Figs. 8-11 have been prepared. All these Figures relate to a 12-acre site and are therefore com- parable not only with each other but also with the earlier diagrams of houses. Fig. 8 shows the site developed at a high density near the maxi- mum with ten-storey blocks in broken cruciform layout, the density being 275 rooms per acre. Fig. 9 shows what might be termed “ the prac- tical maximum ”’, that is to say the blocks are re-arranged to eliminate north wings, the density in this case being 240 rooms per acre. Fig. 10 shows a layout of six-storey blocks at a density of 155 rooms per acre, and Fig. 11 also shows six-storey blocks but with the inclusion of space for a play area which has the effect of reducing the density to 128 rooms per acre. (iii) Areas developed with Houses and Flats 46. In an area of mixed development, the average density will depend upon the proportion of the total number of rooms that are contained in houses and flats respectively and upon the densities of each. Table 4 has been prepared to illustrate this somewhat complex relationship. It shows for various average densities over areas of mixed development the percentage of rooms that would be contained in houses on the — assumption that various separate densities are maintained for the houses and flats respectively. Thus, to give an example, if the average density were 100 and the density of the flats 180, then 80 per cent. of the rooms could be in houses at a density of 90; but only 64 per cent. would be in houses if the density were reduced to 80. constant at 70, at an average density of 100, 57-6 per cent. of the rooms would be in houses if the flats were at a density of 240, 50-9 per cent. in houses if the flats were at 180, and 28 per cent. in houses if the flats were at 120. 47. The principle underlying Table 4 is of particular importance as a starting point in — answering a question which is bound to face all local planning authorities. The question con- cerns the choice of a suitable average net density for an area to be developed or redeveloped. An answer can only be given by breaking the problem down into its three principal parts, viz.: the desired allocation of rooms to houses