The English Experience of Soft Densification (Les expériences anglaises en matière de densification douce). Phase I Draft Report

The first work package of our programme of work is a quantitative overview of the
varying incidence of soft densification across England emphasizing outcomes in
the period between 2001 and 2011. Its aim is to introduce the policy framework
which allowed or encouraged soft densification, to explore its relationship to
underlying associated variation in physical and economic conditions, and to
suggest the broad contours of its socio-economic effects. In addition to its principal
role of providing a framework helping to guide subsequent more detailed
examinations, this body of work seeks to address a series of questions close to
PUCA's key concerns:
· within a policy framework conducive to soft densification, what is the extent
of its contribution to the flow of additional dwelling units?
· under such a regime, what influences variation in the scale of that contribution
from place to place?
· and finally, what needs are met by the units generated by soft densification,
and what are the associated changes in the social and demographic
composition of neighbourhoods?