This is an important chart from a recent study commissioned by Greater Wellington, New Zealand. The study looks at the cost benefits of urban intensification and the above chart shows the relationship been density and infrastructure costs. For this study, they specifically looked at the costs that local governments face in providing road, public bus transport, and "three-waters infrastructure." I hadn't heard this latter term before, but it refers to drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater.

What they obviously found was that there are real economies to higher densities. More density lowers the per dwelling cost of delivering infrastructure. In the case of three-waters infrastructure, it doesn't even really matter if you're proximate to reservoirs or treatment plants. The bulk of the cost lies in the local connection pipes. So what matters most is how many dwellings you can service off of the main lines -- even if these lines need to be upsized.

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am huge fan of the YouTube channel Never Too Small. I have seen most of their episodes and I like to tell people about it even when it is only remotely related to the conversation at hand.

I love the urbanity of it all. There is just something so satisfying about turning constrained spaces into homes that are both beautiful and functional. It also makes you question how much space you really need.

But if constraints aren't your thing, and you'd like to see a wider variety of homes, another great channel to check out is The Local Project. The homes -- which are all in Australia and New Zealand -- are equally as beautiful, but tend to be more, uh, extensive. See above video.

What are some other channels worth checking out? It seems to me like Canada needs something similar to The Local Project. Maybe it already exists.