Optimizing Population Density for Scientific Discovery and Technological Advancement

In a previous post, I started playing with thoughts around there being an ideal amount of population density — certainly more than the density of suburban development, but also perhaps less than some of the maximum densities we see in some very isolated pockets in a few North American cities. But there is obviously varying optimal amounts of density based on what we’re trying to optimize for (and another quick thought — perhaps it makes sense to sacrifice extremely high densities in one area to distribute the positive effects of density into other areas, although we’re probably nowhere near the levels of density where that would need to be a leading consideration).

There seems to be some level of “network effect” in place, where higher density areas are just more productive in terms of innovation, scientific discovery, GDP, etc… It would be interesting to see how that lines up with optimizations in terms of citizen health and happiness. It seems like as optimizing for scientific discovery and technological advancement (along with citizen well-being) would be an interesting aspect of urban design to investigate and design for.