A lot has been written about London's density. A mix of demographic, socio-economic, political and environmental trends and drivers have progressively shaped the image and character of the city, its urban development and density. Today, one could assume that London is at its densest. However, looking back at the history of the city one will quickly notice that, since the Victorian era, London's density has declined. London has experienced a maximum population density of 50,000 people/sq km during the Victorian era and as the centre of the city was booming, urban development was taking place in a tighter form. Today, the maximum density has dropped to 25,700 people/sq km while the urban area figures doubled.

Working closely with our client, we examined London’s urban development though time and identified the major drivers that influenced its shape and density. At the same time, using publicly available data we conducted a thorough GIS analysis to identify opportunity areas for new development and densification. The results of our analysis were used to inform a presentation and subsequent thought leadership paper.