Urbanization is not urbanization: density, not size, drives sustainability

Source: Scientific American

Scientific American Graphic Science “Bigger Cities Aren’t Always Greener, Data Show”
I do not love the headline here, because it suggests that size rather than density is the issue at hand. It is pretty clear what this data show: building low density cities is not sustainable. The issue here is that we call large suburban developments “cities”. In my eyes, if you want to talk about the sustainability of cities you need to be clear what a city really is: it is not just a big area with a lot of people, it is a high-density settlement of people. When people move to more dense cities, their ecological impact tends to go down.