Density, Densification, and Travel
Perspectives from Zurich and Cambridge

Convened by

Li Wan
Senior Fellow 2025–2026

Details

Venue & accessibility info: Meridian Hall, Collegium Helveticum

This is a public event. Participation is free of charge and registration is not required.

The symposium is followed by a small reception.

This event brings together senior land-use and transport planners and leading academics from Cambridge (UK) and Zurich to discuss urban densification—a widely promoted but often debated planning goal in both England and Switzerland.

The workshop focuses on three key challenges:

1. Bridging silos: Although urban densification and sustainable transport are closely connected, they are often planned and implemented separately, divided by institutional and disciplinary boundaries.

2. Strengthening the evidence base: There is still limited empirical research on how changes in urban density over time actually affect travel behaviour, especially in terms of their incremental (marginal) impacts.

3. Understanding policy acceptance and effectiveness: We need a better grasp of the political, social, and institutional factors that influence whether densification policies are accepted by the public and successfully implemented.

By addressing these challenges, the event aims to foster a more integrated and evidence-informed approach to planning compact and sustainable cities.

Program