Urban consolidation refers to a diverse set of planning policies intended to make better use of existing urban infrastructure by encouraging development within existing urbanised areas (so-called 'brownfield sites') rather than on non-urbanised land (aka 'greenfield sites'), thus limiting urban sprawl

Urban sprawl

Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a...

. Urban Consolidation involves increasing the number of houses or units within existing areas so they can have more efficient use of services and reduce the overall impact on the environment. Urban Consolidation is touted as a means to reduce the total amount of land needed to house the population.

There are broadly three kinds of urban consolidation: Market-led consolidation of existing residential areas involves residential redevelopment of established dwellings as well as non-residential land and buildings at higher densities than the metropolitan average. Transit-oriented development

Transit-oriented development

A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...

(or TOD) involves high-density residential and mixed-use buildings within walkable precincts around public transport nodes, often referred to as Activity centre

Activity centre

Activity centre is a term used in urban planning and design for a mixed-use urban area where there is a concentration of commercial and other land uses...

s. The third approach is to require that all new development on the urban fringe of existing metropolitan areas is at higher densities than the current average for those cities.

See also

• Activity centre
  Activity centre
  Activity centre is a term used in urban planning and design for a mixed-use urban area where there is a concentration of commercial and other land uses...
  
  
• Automobile dependency
  Automobile dependency
  Automobile dependency is a term coined by Professors Peter Newman and Jeff Kenworthy to capture the predicament of most cities in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and to a lesser extent, large cities in Europe....
  
  
• Green belt
  Green belt
  A green belt or greenbelt is a policy and land use designation used in land use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighbouring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges which have a linear character and may run through an...
  
  
• London Plan
  London Plan
  The London Plan is a planning document written by the Mayor of London, England in the United Kingdom and published by the Greater London Authority. The plan was first published in final form on 10 February 2004 and has since been amended. The current version was published in February 2008...
  
  
• Medium-density housing
  Medium-density housing
  Medium density housing is a term used in Australia to describe residential developments that are at higher densities than standard low-density, suburban subdivisions, but not so high that they might be regarded as high density housing. The density of standard suburban residential areas has...
  
  
• Melbourne 2030
  Melbourne 2030
  The Metropolitan Strategy Melbourne 2030 is a Victorian Government strategic planning policy framework for the metropolitan area of Greater Melbourne, intended to cover the period 2001-2030. During this period the population of the metropolitan area is expected to grow by a million people to over 5...
  
  
• Mixed-use development
  Mixed-use development
  Mixed-use development is the use of a building, set of buildings, or neighborhood for more than one purpose. Since the 1920s, zoning in some countries has required uses to be separated. However, when jobs, housing, and commercial activities are located close together, a community's transportation...
  
  
• New Urbanism
  New urbanism
  New Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s, and has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
  
  
• Sustainable development
  Sustainable development
  Sustainable development is a pattern of resource use, that aims to meet human needs while preserving the environment so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also for generations to come...
  
  
• Transit-oriented development
  Transit-oriented development
  A transit-oriented development is a mixed-use residential or commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership...
  
  
• Urban growth boundary
  Urban growth boundary
  An urban growth boundary, or UGB, is a regional boundary, set in an attempt to control urban sprawl by mandating that the area inside the boundary be used for higher density urban development and the area outside be used for lower density development.An urban growth boundary circumscribes an...