Cities worldwide face a shared dilemma: what happens when urban space runs out? This question sits at the heart of a recent episode of The Urban Report podcast, which uses Copenhagen as a lens to explore pressures facing mature cities – from Melbourne to London to New York.
The answer challenges conventional thinking. Most cities haven’t run out of space; they’ve run out of efficient ways to use it.
Inefficiency, Not Scarcity
Even the world’s densest cities contain significant underutilised space. Buildings designed for obsolete purposes, mismatched land uses, and infrastructure that no longer serves contemporary life create hidden capacity within existing footprints.
The real constraint isn’t land; it’s imagination. Cities that continue using space as they do today will inevitably face limits. But those willing to invent new ways of organising their areas, buildings, and open spaces can unlock capacity that already exists.
"There is so much space still left in New York City. It's just inefficiently used." – Steven Cornwell
Lifestyle Changes Reshape Demand
Post-pandemic working patterns have fundamentally altered urban occupancy. Hybrid living, where residents split time between city centres and suburban or regional locations, has reduced density pressures in urban cores while creating new opportunities for spatial reorganisation.
This shift challenges traditional planning models that assume static occupancy patterns. Cities measuring capacity based on pre-pandemic usage may be overestimating scarcity and underestimating latent space.
"People's lifestyle changes have meant that they're moving out of the cities... they're having a three day a week city life and a four day a week county life." – Steven Cornwell
The Sufficiency Imperative
A provocative question emerges: what if cities required 10% less space per person? This isn’t about compromising quality of life; it’s about questioning whether current spatial standards represent genuine need or inherited convention.
The challenge extends beyond physical planning. Urban development depends on financial models built around property sales, meaning reduced spatial requirements can undermine the business cases that enable construction. Cities face a paradox where the most sustainable path forward may conflict with the economics that make development possible.
"What if we lived on just 10% less space per person? Then we can actually solve this." – Lars Jensen
Identity Under Pressure
Copenhagen exemplifies a tension facing cities globally. Its appeal lies in its human scale, low-rise character, and carefully preserved identity. Yet population growth rivals that of far larger metropolises. The city approaches an inflection point where accommodating demand may require compromising the very qualities that make it desirable.
This isn’t unique to Copenhagen. Every spatially constrained city eventually confronts the trade-off between preservation and adaptation, between maintaining character and meeting capacity needs.
"There is such a charm to this city and the height of it... who would want to change this? Because it is so beautiful." – Steven Cornwell
So, What Happens When Cities Run Out of Space?
When cities run out of space, the constraint becomes generative. Governments, designers, and communities are pushed to reframe opportunity, rethink assumptions, and design urban environments that are more connected, resilient, and responsive to human needs.
Spatial scarcity isn’t a crisis to solve; it’s a condition that demands creativity, coordination, and courage. Cities don’t need more land. They need the will to use existing resources more intelligently, the imagination to design new models of urban life, and the clarity to define what they truly value when every decision carries weight.
The real scarcity isn’t space. It’s the capacity to think differently about how we use it.
"If we continue using space as we do today, then we're running out of space. But if we can invent new ways of using our areas, our buildings, our open space... we're not running out of space." – Lars Jensen
Listen to the full conversation on The Urban Report podcast
Steven Cornwell, Global Director ERA-co
Steven Cornwell is the Global Director of ERA-co currently living in NYC. Prior to establishing ERA-CO in the United States he was the CMO of publicly traded development company Howard Hughes Corporation. Prior to this he was the CEO and Executive Creative Director of Cornwell Brand & Communications in Australia, a business he started in 1994 with his wife Jane Sinclair. Over the course of 20 years Steven has garnered an international reputation for developing leading brands from a broad range of sectors including real-estate, place, culture, consumer retail, media, transit & infrastructure and professional services.
Steven is a renowned expert in placemaking with global expertise, serving clients in North America, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific and Australia.” He has won many international accolades over his 20-year career. In 2005 he was shortlisted for the Premiers Design Award, in 2007 he was the winner of the coveted MADC Blackly Award for Creative Leader of the Year and the Australian Graphic Design Association Pinnacle Award. In his capacity as a creative industry leader he became one of the founding members of Open House Melbourne where he served on the board for 5 years. In this role he was also invited to speak at Open House London on the role of brands and creativity in Place-making. He was also the founding sponsor of Creativity Australia and the highly sought after Melbourne Prize for Literacy, Music and Urban Sculpture, now in its tenth year. In 2012 he was an invited to Judge the Adobe Design Achievement Award (ADAA) in San Francisco.
Steven’s creative strategy, and the work he has produced at Howard Hughes and Cornwell has been widely recognized as an exemplar of contemporary placemaking. He has written several books on Australian design including the global release of Ripe, New Design in Australia by Craftsman Press. In 2008 he was a visiting professor at the Hongik University in Soul South Korea where he lectured at the design school on the value of creativity in business. In 2014 Cornwell was acquired by Australia’s largest publicly listed marketing and communications group WPP.
In 2014 Steven moved to New York to lead a team of 55 marketing professionals nationwide responsible for placemaking, visioning, brand strategy, marketing communications and digital experience for the Howard Hughes Corporation. In 2019 Steven became Global Director and Chief Experience Officer of ERA-co, a global place brand specializing in data science, research and insight, user strategy, urban systems and brand experience.
Based in Dubai studio, Paolo oversees the ERA-co global urban design and masterplan studios. With more than 20 years of experience leading Architecture, Urban Planning and Environmental Design projects, Paolo’s ethos is based upon a sensible business case for the proposed mix of uses and sustainable agenda. Paolo’s master planning combines evidence-based methodology with insight into the way people relate to spaces.
Paolo has directed master planning, mixed-use, retail and residential projects around the world—from Italy, Greece, Mexico, China and the UK. Currently, he focuses on large-scale projects in the Middle East—including the Dubai Land Retail District, the Palm Jumeirah Masterplan and the Expo 2020 Souks masterplan in Dubai. Paolo is a skilled public speaker. He regularly collaborates with the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitats, the Welsh School of Architecture and Italy’s Roma Tre University by teaching courses and speaking at design conferences.