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NAPLES — When it comes to talking about land-use planning, density shouldn’t be a dirty word.

That was the consensus during an Urban Land Institute panel discussion on “The Politics of Density,” held Wednesday at Pelican Preserve in Fort Myers.

The event attracted about 70 builders, planners, environmentalists and government officials who are concerned about growth regulations.

“We’re talking about density in a thoughtful way. We want to enrich the public conversation,” said moderator Steve Seibert, of the Collins Center for Public Policy in Tallahassee. “It’s sustainability with an edge — to make sure those who come behind us don’t suffer from our decisions.”

Most of the event’s five speakers said it is time for Floridians to move beyond the assumption that high-density development isn’t conducive to smart growth.

Putting more people in smaller spaces limits sprawl and creates more room for preserved land and natural habitats, they said. It also makes public services like mass transit more economical.

But current state and local regulations make that kind of planning too difficult, said Mitch Hutchcraft, vice president of real estate for King Ranch.

“Doing density right is a lot of hard work,” he said. “The system encourages low densities rather than long-term planning and accommodating areas of higher density in the right places.”

Hutchcraft said developers receive competing messages from different government entities, plus the demands made by environmental groups and residents.

The result is an overly expensive, piecemeal approach that leads to long-term incremental growth and sprawl rather than “nodes of development that are connected regionally.”

“If we could make the path of least resistance to achieve what we all want to do, people would go that way,” he said. “Right now I think it’s almost the opposite.”

Nancy Payton, a Florida Wildlife Federation field representative, told the group that environmentalists are eager to collaborate with developers on issues like transferring density rights from environmentally sensitive areas to areas more conducive to development.

“Higher density can bring about lower density for sensitive lands,” she said. “You’ve got to earn it, the density has to come from somewhere else — it’s the yin and the yang.”

One key, she said, is to build rural villages like Ave Maria instead of gated communities.

If a development promotes community and connectivity within itself, it can lessen the need for new roads and the impact on natural areas.

Don Eslick, a member of the Estero Council of Community Leaders, said citizens also are interested in working with government officials and builders.

Since forming the group, Eslick said Estero residents have contributed to smart planning that incorporates high-density developments such as Coconut Point.

The development on U.S. 41 includes 2 million square feet of retail and office space plus 1,500 housing units along a busy transportation corridor.

Compatibility with adjacent properties and the quality of the development were keys to gaining public acceptance, he said.

“Are you going to give us quality?” he asked. “We are willing to give more density if you’re willing to do it.”

Bob Mulhere of RWA Consultants and a former Collier County planner, agreed that high quality is crucial. Good design, he said, helps high-density projects get built and follows the market.

“Higher density is not appropriate everywhere,” he said. “But it’s certainly appropriate in certain areas; some of the places with the highest density are the most expensive places to live, and the most desirable.”