My area definitely has been seeing an increase in population density. As for "more compact," I don't know how that's measured. It's not like people are fleeing the surrounding areas, but the overall population is rising, and lots of new housing is going into the downtown area, which has become the desirable place to live. I'm pretty sure that population is rising downtown a lot faster than it is rising in surrounding areas. When I moved here almost 20 years ago, downtown was kind of weird. Government buildings, and places for the workers to get lunch, but it kind of felt like a ghost town, moreso in the evenings when everyone went home. But there has been a resurgence in interest in downtown. We've gone from a scattering of bars and small music venues to a pretty big nightlife scene, and several condos and apartment buildings have gone in and are commanding more rent than I'm willing to pay. We still live on the outskirts, about 7 or 8 mile bike ride to the city center. Meanwhile the city government is trying to cope by trying to establish better transit and make the city more safe for biking and walking, but car culture is strong here, and there is a lot of pushback on every bit of non-car infrastructure. It's an uphill battle, but at least the government seems aware that to achieve real density downtown, they have to allow for people living there and coming and going without a car. I get by without one out in outskirts, but if I lived downtown, it'd be a cinch. Even my bike would get less use because 90% of the places I frequent are within a 2 mile circle.