UrbanDesign

People often assume courtyard urbanism means sacrificing density for yards but often courtyard urbanism is denser than the tower approach. On a common 271.6-acre site basis, the planned development provides 7,218 homes. Our courtyard-block model has estimated capacity for about 16,400 homes: roughly 2.3 times as many. That’s about 60 homes per gross acre versus 27. Using the same illustrative assumption of 2.5 residents per occupied home, at full occupancy: Planned development: about 18,000 residents Courtyard alternative: about 41,000 residents The ambition is density that supports house-like apartments with fronts and backs, overlooking protected shared gardens, with stairs leading into the courtyard and active streets outside. Building height alone doesn’t tell us how much housing a neighborhood can accommodate. The arrangement of buildings, streets and open space matters enormously. These are conceptual capacity estimates, not approved homes or a population forecast. Our count assumes 900-sf average homes and 91.5% residential efficiency, and includes about 4,000 equivalents in shoreline- or drainage-review areas. Excluding those groups leaves about 12,400 equivalents, still roughly 71% above the planned program. The schemes also differ in their parks and nonresidential uses, so this is a demonstration of potential, not a like-for-like feasibility verdict.

these are new (2024) apartments in Stockholm