Is There Room for Privacy in the Compact City?

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Compact city theory has been embraced by the UK government and, consequently, is embedded in planning policies seeking to deliver sustainable outcomes. New housing and mixed-use developments are now being built that reflect the change in policy, for example, urban brownfield sites are being developed at higher densities with larger proportions of flats than previously. However, while the environmental, economic and increasingly the social benefits of urban compaction have been promoted, there has been little discussion of its impact on quality of urban life and in particular on levels of privacy. This paper begins to address this gap by reporting the results of research into the effects of the design of compact, sustainable housing on privacy in the home. The Privacy Study investigated the impact of a number of design and location features of new housing developments on residents' perceptions of overlooking and noise in their homes. The results suggest that in certain types of dwellings, such as flats, noise from neighbours is heard more often. The size of dwellings and plots influences residents' perceptions of overlooking of their homes and private open spaces. Overlooking of private outdoor space (but not indoor space) tends to be less in larger homes on bigger plots. Given the potential roles of noise and overlooking in modulating interactions between neighbours, this study suggests that further research is warranted on the impacts of compact design on privacy and, consequently, on aspects of social sustainability.