Urban population density

distributionFactors affecting population density

Factors affecting population

densityTransport factor

Socio-economic factor

Historical factor

Institutional factor

Transport factorPopulation tends to cluster in area of high

accessibility, usually the city centre, provided by converging transport routes.

Transport factorImprovement in accessibility through transport development may enhance geographical mobility

It facilitates various urban processes like rural-urban migration, suburbanization and counter-urbanization (re-urbanization).

Socio-economic factorIt involves the comparison of transport cost and

land rent

Socio-economic factor

The greater the distance from the city centre, the greater the transport costs incurred

Land rent is lower due to less keen competition of land (large supply of land in the periphery of the city)

Low land value encourages lower intensity of land use for residential purpose (low-density residential houses)

Occupying larger space (e.g. detached houses with gardens)

It gives rise to the formation of low-density high-income residential suburbs

Socio-economic factor

Low-income groups tend to live closer to the city centre for more immediate access to their working places and lower transport costs

However, the high land value forces the low-income group to live in small units of land

Forming high-density low-income residential area near the city centre (slums in the inner city)

Sheung Wan

Historical factorDue to historical process of urban development, there would be a tendency for higher density development in old urban areas

It is probably the result of high housing demand in the old days

Institutional factor

Government policy can influence the population density of a city in terms of

Urban planning / land use constraints lower population density in some areas

New town programmes + industrial decentralization population decentralization in suburbs

Urban redevelopment programmes population regeneration in old urban areas

All these may reduce the population density gradient more even distribution of population

Yuen Long

Tung Chung

Tsuen Wan

Tai Po