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One problem we face right now is that America was built on this "urban" vs "suburban" planning mindset. In the 60's to the 90's the city equated overcrowding an
by rwhitman 11y ago
One problem we face right now is that America was built on this "urban" vs "suburban" planning mindset. In the 60's to the 90's the city equated overcrowding and crime, the suburbs equaled privacy and freedom. Today we see things quite a bit differently, but it's still city vs suburbs - you walk, bike to work and see your neighbors regularly - or - live your life in the self-imposed isolation of cars and spaced out tract homes.
I wish we could get over this idea that it has to be one way or the other. Cities don't have to be densely stuffed with a grid of monstrous mixed use high rises to be a city. Suburbs don't have to zone stores a million miles from housing to be a suburb. Both places can share development patterns and still give people what they want. There's a middle ground that can be found here, but municipal planners and real estate developers seem to be fixated on these narrow visions of growth.
What's wrong with tearing up a few office parking lots to add a few shops and houses? What's wrong with building a few 4 floor walk-up apartment buildings instead of yet another block-sized, doorman-guarded fortress?
Hopefully the next century of urban development in America is spent at least partly figuring out how to blend these environments together better.
- omegaworks 11y ago>municipal planners and real estate developers seem to be fixated on these narrow visions of growth. It requires a huge amount of capital to build things that have to last 20+ years. They go with what works. Unfortunately, the revolutionary dreams of urban renewal and theme park millionaires[0] never really got us any closer to our ideal human habitat. 0. http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a35104/walt-disney-epcot-history-city-of-tomorrow/ http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/news/a35104/walt-disney...
- TheCoelacanth 11y agoI think typifying cities as nothing but block-sized high-rises is completely wrong. Even large parts of Manhattan are full of 4-6 story buildings.
- rwhitman 11y agoI guess singling out 4 floor walk-ups as something we need more of kind of muddles the point. The scale of the current crop of new apartment buildings is often measured horizontally.. The trend in development these days, in my neighborhood at least, is for developers to scoop up as large a parcel as they can get their hands on, demolish it and build a very large mixed-use complex. Most of them span at least a quarter of a block. Newly constructed smaller buildings get built only when the lot size doesn't fit much else. Increasing density around transit accessible hub areas is a strategy championed by city planners these days, with somewhat good intentions. I just don't think anyone has really thought through what happens when entire neighborhoods are dominated by massive mixed-use condo buildings. What happens if these areas lose property value? What form does a contemporary condo complex take when blight sets in 20 years from now?