Discussions on the relationship between urban form and social capital have garnered attention for a long time as they are well documented in the literature. However, the empirical analysis regarding these two issues is still limited. This study proposes a new perspective on the link between the 3Ds (Density, Diversity, and Design) element of urban form and social capital in the global south using the Indonesian context. Using the linear multilevel regression, this study consistently revealed a contradicting result according to which greater residential density is negatively associated with several social capital factors. Surprisingly, more retail areas in cities are adversely associated with some social capital indicators. High connectivity did not necessarily encourage the development of social capital for small-medium cities. This study showed varied associations between density and social capital in small-medium, and large cities, with consistent results regarding land use mix. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.