DENSITY AND PATHOLOGY IN STOCKHOLM AND COPENHAGEN

The link between increasing population and change in human pathological behavior within urban regions has been assumed by human ecologists and the public in general. However, recent evidence on North American cities by Galle, Gove and Mcpherson and Gillis has shown that overcrowding does not necessarily accompany urbanization or increases pathological behavior. They suggest that hypotheses that high density "causes" pathological behavior be more adequately evaluated to determine the relationships between the quality of life, pathology, and density changes. Current research evaluates the Galle et al. hypothesis using annual time series data from Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark (1945-73). The links between multiple measures of population density and overcrowding are explored using partial correlation. The results substantiated Galle et al. and Gillis' conclusion concerning the nebulous link between density and social pathology. Durkheim's specification of a physical density and deviant behavior relationship, as well as the recent "behavioral sink" experiments on Norway rats by Calhoun, have led many human ecologists, ethologists, and the general public to postulate links between population density and change in rates of pathological behavior within urban regions.1 High and/or increasing population density are assumed to strain the ability of urban systems to prpvide needed services and amenities, hence lowering the overall quality of life and producing psychological strain manifest in pathological responses by urban dwellers.2 Recent evidence concerning North American, European, and Asian cities has been mixed. A density-pathology relationship has been reported3 and refuted4 at community and urban levels. The conflicting results indicated a complex relationship between pathology and specific types of density, ecological sites and cultural differences. This research is a conceptual and methodological repeat of efforts by Galle et al. and Carnahan et al. to specify the relationships between population density and pathological behaviors in urban regions. Their analyses employed ecological data