Housing for an Urban Renaissance: Implications for Social Equity

Current UK housing policy favours high-density, mixed-use development on previously developed urban land. This ties in with a general policy to promote an 'urban renaissance', largely because of its claimed advantages for sustainability. However, there has been little testing to date of sustainability impacts in practice. This is particularly true for the social equity aspect of sustainability, despite its acknowledged centrality to the concept. This paper outlines the development of a theory of social equity in relation to urban form and presents empirical research based on this to test the case of the so-called 'compact city', that is, high-density, mixed-use urban form. The research involved a comparative investigation of a range of alleged social equity impacts in 25 medium-sized English cities of differing levels and types of compactness. The findings suggest that, in certain respects and with certain qualifications, the compact city has the potential to promote social equity. Likely benefits include reduced car dependency and lower levels of social segregation, while the main problem is likely to be a lack of affordable, decent-sized homes. Positive effects are emerging in response to re-urbanisation and development on derelict land, and the cities which most support equity appear to be those that have a large proportion of high-density housing and a large quantity of locally provided services and facilities.