Five challenges and tips for creating a functional urban environment when densifying cities

Published 17 October 2024

Image of a city street with a bus, a house being built in the background and a pave way for bikes and pedestrians — Example of city densification. A high-rise building is built on a former parking lot. At the same time, there must be space for public transport, walking, cycling, and cars. Some large trees have been spared to make room for

To create a functional urban environment for people, the environment and biodiversity, cities need to make careful considerations. Urban densification can be positive, for example in terms of reducing car traffic and providing better services to more people. At the same time, it can be at the expense of green spaces and human health. Johanna Alkan Olsson is a senior lecturer at CEC and has been researching these dilemmas for a long time.

Today, many cities have densification as an urban development goal. It helps to improve the basis for public transport, reduce carbon emissions from car traffic and provide more and better services for people in densely populated areas. It also has consequences such as the development of empty plots, old industrial areas and, in some cases, green spaces and close tp urban areas. This in turn creates new challenges, such as lack of access to green infrastructure for people and nature, and noisier urban environments with negative environmental and health impacts. So how can we address these dilemmas and create a functional urban environment?

Johanna Alkan Olsson is a senior lecturer at the Centre for Environmental and Climate Science at Lund University and a member of BECC. She works to link scientific knowledge with how society can create processes and data that contribute to achieving current sustainability goals. On 25 September, Johanna Alkan Olsson spoke on functional urban environments at LU Land's breakfast seminar. Here is a summary of this seminar.