Over the last 20 years the UK has experienced rapid house price inflation. The Barker Review reported that an additional 120,000 private sector homes per annum would need to be built in England to reduce the trend in real house prices to the European average, and recent Government announcements have increased this target. Some key professionals, such as teachers and nurses, cannot afford to live and work in most cities. Increased rates of household formation, as more people live alone, is one factor that has increased the demand for housing. At the same time, cities are becoming socio-economically polarised, with extremes of wealth existing alongside economically poor populations living in social housing and a relative absence of middle class households. There is a widely presumed need for greater social diversity and cohesion through 'mixed' communities. As John Hills (2007) notes, there has been a 'residualisation' of social rented housing over the last 20 years; the poorest groups have been concentrated in this tenure, and it has been seen as an unattractive housing option. Thus there exists a central policy concern to break up this concentration of poverty and exclusion in the tenure, largely through the promotion of mixed neighbourhoods. New types of affordable high-density mixed tenure housing could be one way of addressing some of these issues, by increasing housing options, making affordable properties available via low cost home ownership, and increasing socio-economic diversity. However, high-density housing and inner city living are potentially unattractive to some sections of society. This study focused specifically on resident perceptions of these new forms of high-density affordable housing in eight new housing scheme in England and Scotland.