Growing Denver
The Smart Way
The best way to smartly grow
a rapidly expanding metropolitan city for everyone
What are Denver's issues?
Denver has grown by about 23% in 15 years
From 1900 to 1940, roughly half of Colorado’s population lived in rural areas. After 1940, this number fell steadily and by 2010, the percentage of the rural population stood at 13.8 percent. Between 2000 and 2015, Denver grew by roughly 23%. A fourth of the population of Colorado live in Denver and El Paso Counties, and more than 60 percent of the population of the state live along the Front Range. Denver added more people than any other county in the state of Colorado last year. The population for the city and county of Denver grew by over 10,000 people or 1.5%. Since 2010, Denver has grown by 21%, adding more than 127,000 people and with things happening like climate migration, this number will only continue to grow.
How did Denver become less walkable?
The history of Denver's map starts in gold rush times, around 1858 when two settlements started, one on the south bank of Cherry Creek, the other along the South Platte River. As the two settlements converged into what we now know as Denver city, the roads were almost perfectly aligned in a grid formation. But the strange 45 degree angles of downtown come from the 1864 federal government surveying which forced the city to have roads that matched survey lines. Denver was started around a time when automobiles and trains were starting to become more widespread. Denver, like many other western US cities, started to plan for the future, cars. The roads and railroads were put in so that people could drive and travel. Denver, unlike the eastern US or Europe, had miles of growth potential, the only thing standing in the way being the Rocky Mountains to the west. Because of this the city didn't need to plan for people to walk from place to place. You could live outside the city and have means on transportation to where you needed to go. There was no need to create a city center like a city square you see in Europe because citizens had the means to get to where they needed to go without it all being in one place.
As the rise of the suburbs came in the 1950's, Denver's suburbs all came in the span of a decade. A majority of the outlying neighborhoods that were meant to be suburbs are now considered part of the city itself. As the suburbs developed in Denver the neighborhood centers didn't develop as much. Single family residences were the focus, and garages were attached for easy access to your car.
Between the 1940's to 1970's Denver city annexed, or mapped out territory for city growth, around 42.5 square miles. With the population increasing the need for more suburbs grew. The city faced urban issues for the time, such as urban blight and red-lining. As Denver grew out, the possibility of implementing walkability decreased. Walkability was not on the forefront of city planner's minds when faced with a population increase of 19% from 1950 to 1960.
Coming into more recent times, Denver city, like many other US cities, has started to notice the downsides to how the city was planned around automobiles. Denver has started to implement programs to help increase walkability, quality of life and a better growth plan for the future, which we discuss further here.
Population growth causes Denver to become a "heat island"
Denver’s denser urbanization worsens the climate-driven heat waves. Over the past two decades, Denver’s temperatures have increased by 3 degrees minimally, this is above the increase from global warming. This is because when surfaces are paved or covered over, temperatures spike because the concrete and asphalt absorb the sunlight and then release it. A Climate Central analysis of National Weather Service data found that Denver has one of the nation’s most severe “heat island” effects. The spiking heat is eased in leafy neighborhoods, but the hardest hit are the mostly paved downtown areas.
Denver's climate is also changing
Denver is seeing catastrophic climate change. This includes drought, algae blooms, record heat, massive fish kills, and the worst wildfires in the state’s history. The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Colorado is transportation. Reducing the need to drive, Denver would be taking a step in the right direction to combat climate change.
.png)
The city is not designed to accommodate this many people. The poor design leads to these shocking statistics:
-
84.8% of Colorado workers over the age of 16 commute to work by driving
-
3 of 4 drivers commute alone
-
Almost half the commutes are 20 minutes or less
-
Only 3.2% of Colorado workers over the age of 16 use public transport to get to work.
Commutes become difficult from rising housing costs
The cost of housing in Denver continues to rise. For years, Denver’s housing market has been one of the hottest in the country and that is not expected to stop, especially with climate crisis migration. City officials hope to raise $150 million for affordable housing through property taxes and a new fee on developers, but it is worried that will not be enough to meet the large need of affordable housing.