Nicolai Steinø
Department of Architecture, Design and Media Technology, Aalborg University
Date: Wednesday 18 May 2016
Time: 12.45 – 14.00
Place: Rendsburggade 14, Room 3.329
Abstract
When architects and planners speak of density, they speak of two different things. As architects are concerned with buildings, they think of density as density of buildings, expressed as floor area ratio (FAR). Planners however, are concerned with inhabitants and thus with density of people, expressed as population density.
While some people have large dwellings and are often not at home, other people have small dwellings and spend most of their time at home. Therefore, building more houses does not necessarily increase the population density. It is therefore relevant to develop a measure for use density – how intensively buildings are used by people.
This presentation introduces the concept of use density and how it can be used to analyse and compare the intensity of use of different types of buildings. A new measure, the Nic index, is developed as an expression of the total amount of time spent by the total amount of people in a specific space in the course of a typical week. The findings of a small pilot survey applying the Nic index to dwellings is presented and discussed.
Bio
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