NEW YORK CITY-A study released by the Center for an Urban Future yesterday at the Staten Island Economic Development Corp.’s annual conference, finds the borough faces significant challenges. These include a rapidly rising median population age, little new development and a lack of affordable housing density around transportation centers.

Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future, tells GlobeSt.com that the study was commissioned by the SIEDC as a way to put fresh eyes on changes the borough has undergone in the past 20 years.

One of the key findings involves the lack of housing density around transportation centers. “If Staten Island is going to create more affordable housing, if it’s going to create new units and thereby reduce the upward pressure on prices, it’s got to look to some density in places in the borough that can handle it,” Bowles tells GlobeSt.com. One of those areas, he mentions, is the St. George neighborhood. “A place like St. George, near the ferry terminal where all the buses go--this is a place that could handle some more density.”