Metro Milwaukee Density

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC) is in the process of conducting a housing study. I sit on the advisory board for this study. During the recent meeting on March 24, I was especially struck by a statistic on the density of the metro area.

The population density of the urban portion of the Region has decreased significantly between 1940 and 2000. The population density decreased from 10,700 persons per square mile in 1940 to about 5,100 persons per square mile in 1970, 3,900 persons per square mile in 1980, 3,500 persons per square mile in 1990, and 3,300 persons per square mile in 2000. (bolds mine)

SEWRPC attributes this mostly to three factors; lower residential density, increased commercial & industrial land, and "A 25 percent decrease in average household size...."

Part of the growth of metro area was inevitable; historically, whenever there are improvements in transportation, people spread out more as commute time goes down. But we also have smaller families living in bigger houses in bigger lots (this is documented elsewhere in zoning section).

The question is, is this kind of decrease in density sustainable? After all, the farther people live apart, the farther they live from their jobs & amenities, the more driving there will be. The more driving there is, the more people want to move away from the traffic (that they helped create in the first place). Is this a healthy thing for us as a society? There are benefits to higher densities-especially for people who cannot or don't drive (such as some people with disabilities or older adults).