Population Density and Urban Transit In Large World Cities
Density is a hugely important measure that is connected to everything from urban design to transportation and economic growth.
The densest central urban neighborhoods are usually those that developed earliest before cars and trains allowed people to cover travel more than a few kilometers in an hour’s time.
The densest neighborhoods found are frequently found in Chinese cities. Even the densest parts in New York City are no less dense than the densest neighborhoods in China.
Tokyo also has the highest overall density of all the cities, and yet almost no district in Tokyo exceeds 20 thousand people/sq km (light red color).
Los Angeles and San Francisco have small, high density (red) urban cores that were developed before the appearance of the car, in contrast to more far-flung lower density suburbs which were built up mostly after the appearance of the car.
