What Does it Mean to Humanize High Density?

According to latest CTBUH data, the population growth of the 100 tallest cities—those with the most 200m+ building completions—increased roughly 60 percent between 2000 and 2020. Yet the construction of 200m+ buildings in these cities rose more than 700 percent during the same time period. It is abundantly clear we will witness a significant flow of density in the not-so-distant future that alters the balance between nature and cities, between vertical and horizontal urbanization, between individuals and communities.

We know that high-rise buildings play a critical role in managing the effects of rapidly increasing density in cities around the world. But people must be the protagonists in this narrative. We must ask:

• What’s the difference between high density and overcrowding?
• How can high-density urbanization support equitable and healthy living?
• How can a new generation of towers help balance work, civic, and social engagement?
• How do we adapt industry values to prevent climate change and improve the individual experience of density?
• And, ultimately, how do we weave tall buildings, the natural world, and the communities that inhabit them in new, meaningful, and productive ways?

In less than two months, hundreds of today’s industry-leading experts, representing a wide range of disciplines and specializations, will convene in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to deliver and participate in six days of workshops, presentations, panel discussions, and off-site tours that aim to determine the future of density and reveal pragmatic approaches that are responsive to and respectful of a multitude of variables. Together, we will instigate the conversations that define, debate, and weigh these variables—foremost, the human variable—and their role in the complex calculus of achieving equilibrium in urban population density.

Examples of other topics we’ll explore include:

• Vertical layering: “Humanizing Vertical Cities with Layered Systems” by Swinal Samant, Visiting Senior Fellow, National University of Singapore
• Social spaces: “Social Spaces and the Buildings That Tolerate Them” by Travis Soberg, Principal & Director of Sustainable Design, Goettsch Partners
• Adaptations in the AEC industry: “Future-Proofing AEC: Facing Overpopulation and Demographic Changes” by Ilkay C Standard, Founder, GenX Design & Technology
• Urban connectivity: “New Optimism in High-Density Urbanization” by Astrid Piber, Partner/Senior Architect, UNStudio
• And many, many more!

So please join me and the world’s foremost thought-leaders in sustainable vertical urbanism in a critical dialogue that can lead us closer to understanding what it means to “humanize” high density—and set forth to achieve it! I look forward to seeing you in October.

Best regards,