Urban Density - Measurement

Measurement

Urban density is a very specific measurement of the population of an urbanized area, excluding non-urban land-uses. Non-urban uses include regional open space, agriculture and water-bodies.

There are a variety of other ways of measuring the density of urban areas:

• Floor area ratio - the total floor area of buildings divided by land area of the lot they are built on
• Residential density - the number of dwelling units in any given area
• Population density - the number of people in any given area
• employment density - the number of jobs in any given area
• Gross density - any density figure for a given area of land that includes uses not necessarily directly relevant to the figure (usually roads and other transport infrastructure)
• Net density - a density figure for a given area of land that excludes land not directly related to the figure.
• Weighted density - a density metric which measures the density at which the average citizen lives. It is determined by calculating the standard density of each census tract, assigning each a weight equal to its share of the total population, and then adding the segments.