Jane Jacobs in her book, "The Death and Life of Great American Cities" said "to promote density is like swimming with the sharks." Why is that? Throughout history people have lived in relatively close proximity very successfully. No one is suggesting that we return to tenement housing – but does every family really need its own acre? Many of the problems we have with density may come from the images we conjure up in our minds when we hear that word. We hope that the following images of very popular developments may offer different, more positive images of what "density" can look and feel like. And with Wisconsin projecting that our population will grow by another 250,000 households in the next 20 years, developing more densely will be the most effective way to protect our state’s cherished open spaces.