Density through urban redevelopment is on the agenda this week at the national cabinet meeting - and for the next decade as cities like Melbourne formally embrace density instead of urban sprawl.

Embracing density has been an academic interest for me - more like an obsession ­- for more than 50 years.

In 1975 my first paper showed how ecological succession followed the second law of thermodynamics in its redevelopment processes through embracing density.

In multicultural Australia we must now embrace density.

There is so much that has been found wrong with the model of sub-dividing back-yards in the middle suburbs and now we are left with just small pockets of high rise as the only way to do any density.

Embracing density means embracing new approaches to planning that bring the whole community along.

We should not fear density or the changes to a planning process that includes more community involvement not less.