Work

Between public space and private living: social infrastructure as a demand-side strategy for compact living

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Cities must balance the housing needs of growing populations with planetary boundaries. Technological improvements alone cannot meet climate targets, and demand-side strategies that reduce private dwelling size are critical for achieving absolute reductions in material and energy demand. However, the socio-spatial conditions that enable compact living remain poorly understood. Prior theoretical work suggests that social infrastructure, including cafés, parks, libraries, and community centres, can reduce demand for private residential space, but empirical evidence linking social infrastructure to dwelling size has been virtually absent. We address this gap through a large-scale, neighbourhood-level analysis across Vancouver, Toronto, and Montréal, Canada. Using Google Places data linked with census indicators, we estimated spatial error models to examine the association between social infrastructure and dwelling size. Across all three cities, greater access to social infrastructure was associated with smaller dwellings, independent of income, household size, and population density ( β = − 0.210 Toronto; −0.138 Vancouver; −0.091 Montréal). To account for differences in urban form, we further clustered neighbourhoods into built-form typologies, enabling comparisons among similar neighbourhoods. The relationship remained significant across most typologies within each city. While further analysis is needed across additional countries and settlement types, these findings provide the first cross-metropolitan quantitative evidence linking social infrastructure with compact living. Together, these findings identify social infrastructure as a promising and previously overlooked demand-side strategy deserving greater attention in efforts to enable resource-efficient housing while maintaining urban liveability.

Source: Environmental Research Letters

DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aeaf69

Authors: Tamar Meshulam, Shoshanna Saxe

Institution: University of Toronto

Language: English

Topic: Urban Transport and Accessibility

Subfield: Transportation

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Sustainable cities and communities, Climate action, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,045