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I'm looking for a word capturing the city planning philosophy of building upwards and not outwards, in order to avoid urban sprawl.

A great example is the Emerald City from the Wizard of Oz, with it's vertical development, tight footprint, and abrupt border marked with a surrounding wall. The city is surrounded by nature, with no human affairs spilling outside the wall, except the yellow brick road.

The only real world example I can think of was the segregated ghettos enforced on the Jews by various European powers.

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    If you are looking for a single word for the vertical city development then you might consider using this alongside 'conurbation' instead of 'urban sprawl' - "a large densely populated urban sprawl formed by the growth and coalescence of individual towns or cities"
    – Manhatton
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 18:17
  • thanks so much @Manhatton, this is definitely a word I'll be needing. Much appreciated
    – Drake Swartzentruber
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 18:22

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Arcology:

a type of architecture concerned with the design of enormous vertical cities that maximize population density and so preserve the surrounding countrysidea city in this architectural system.

(Collins Dictionary)

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  • This is exactly what I was looking for, bravo!
    – Drake Swartzentruber
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 18:02
  • The Wikipedia page is interesting too
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 18:02
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    This isn't a generic term for vertical development, but refers to the specific ideas of Soleri or to the theoretical self-contained vertical cities they would entail. It isn't a school of urban planning, and it doesn't describe a development philosophy.
    – choster
    Commented Jun 15, 2018 at 19:06

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