Constrained geography is an important part of shaping cities, but it's generally considered by geographers and urban planners to be an enormous positive.
I'm curious why that's the case and under what conditions it applies.
Constrained geography means that, physically, you can fit fewer people within the same commuting time which means prices should go up faster given demand than otherwise. Given an external source of demand (ie: hot area for whatever reason) that seems a bad combination for a healthy city.
It suppresses sprawl. If you allow people to build (an issue on the peninsula) then you can provide services more efficiently with less environmental impact.
> I'm curious why that's the case and under what conditions it applies.
Hong Kong is a small, mountainous archipelago. Tokyo-Yokohama surrounds a bay on a mountainous archipelago. Manhattan is an island. Yet these places have the most skyscrapers in the world and are amongst the richest places in history on any measure.
Urban density has nonlinear effects. It relies in part on the pressure to build vertically and the ability to move many people horizontally.
Surrounded by a giant empty plain which people commute in from (as in it's population doubles during the day). And there's constant issues with wealth inequality, homelessness, living conditions for the poor, etc. Money is not the only measure by which a healthy city is defined.
I don't know if I'd describe NYC as surrounded by plains. It has the Atlantic on one side. Long Island is, you may have guessed, an island. Westchester and Suffolk are also pinched by the same rivers that constrain Manhattan. The densest parts of New Jersey that people commute from are variously constrained by the Atlantic, rivers and ports.
I cannot imagine that Manhattan would be anywhere near as dense without the Hudson and East rivers cutting it off from the New York mainland, Long Island and New Jersey.
> And there's constant issues with wealth inequality, homelessness, living conditions for the poor, etc. Money is not the only measure by which a healthy city is defined.
What's your definition of a healthy city, and why does massive sprawl satisfy it so well?
Sure but then you get past that density into territory where the price per square foot means everyone lives in shoe boxes and/or is priced out. Higher density costs more money per square foot to build.
Constrained geography means that, physically, you can fit fewer people within the same commuting time which means prices should go up faster given demand than otherwise. Given an external source of demand (ie: hot area for whatever reason) that seems a bad combination for a healthy city.