http://heikoheiko.blogspot.com/2006/10/sprawl-and-uk-housing-shortage.html
(my comments on:
http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/Issues/Housing.aspx
500 square metres is huge and maybe uncorrelated with happiness, but
there's good evidence that people in Britain want to live in detached
houses with gardens, rather than flats in dense towns where every
available green space gets concreted over for even more flats,
and while 98% don't want to live in flats, some 50% of new build is now
flats in Britain, and most of the rest are tiny town houses with either
no garden or virtually no garden.
The reason for that is extremely tight planning laws that force
densification, partially because of the supposed climate benefit (ie
less energy for heating and less commuting).
I think the above reports make a very convincing case that
densification does nothing for the climate. If people aren't allowed to
build somewhere close to the cities, they'll just become extra urban
and move to villages 50 miles from work. Housing density, once income
and petrol price are taken account of, has no discernible impact on
petrol consumption.
And when land prices are driven skyward, people choose to live in old
and poky housing, much of which is far from energy efficient. New build
can be made to consume very little energy for heating, and that little
can be supplied by heat pumps (ie can be zero carbon, if nuclear or
wind powered).
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