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One thing I can't fathom about cities in North America is this sharp division between residential areas and shopping areas. I'm by no means a world expert, but
by hasenj 10y ago
One thing I can't fathom about cities in North America is this sharp division between residential areas and shopping areas.
I'm by no means a world expert, but the places I've been to (Middle East where I grew up, Japan which I visited a couple of times) don't have this sharp distinction. Sure, there are residential areas and there are shopping areas, but every residential area will have many small shops here and there. You don't need a car to shop for groceries. You can just go down the street and there's likely a small store within 10-15 minutes walking distance that will have most of the things you need.
In North America it seems rather normal to have blocks and blocks of nothing but houses. To buy groceries, you need a car drive (anywhere from 10 to 40 minutes) to get to some plaza (or a mall) with big name stores like Wal-Mart or Target.
This has always bothered me. I think the only exception is the core downtown areas of big cities, but living there has its own downsides. Too expensive, too noisy, can sometimes be somewhat shady.
- update 10y agoI live in a newer U.S. city and this couldn't be any further from the truth. e.g. Walmart is < 2 miles away.
- hasenj 10y agoYou just happened to be located close to it. It's still designed to accommodate people coming in with their cars. Unless it's a different kind of Walmart, there is usually a huge parking lot, and entry on foot is a bit cumbersome sometimes.
- vinceguidry 10y agoDo you walk to this Wal-Mart? I live one mile away from the closest grocery store and I still drive.
- abalashov 10y agoI don't see how that rectifies the essential grievance. A Walmart ~ < 2 miles away is substantially similar to a Walmart 10 miles away for all intents and purposes. And, as I mentioned in my post, even if it were 0.25 mi away, there are all kinds of artifices in suburbia that commonly stop one walking there.
- bklimt 10y agoIn every suburb I've lived in, whether in Austin or Pittsburgh or San Jose, there has been a grocery store within walking distance. I have lived in smaller cities where that's not the case, but not in the suburbs.
- thrownaway2424 10y agoSeriously? Most late-20th century American subdivisions are built on the scale of a section, which is a mile on each side. Each section typically has a strip-mall type car-centered shopping area with a grocery store at one corner. Due to the fractal layout of the dead-end streets and lack of walking facilities it is generally at least a mile from any of the houses to any of the grocers. And that's for th people who are willing to walk down the side of a giant street-cross-freeway without sidewalks.
- mattmcknight 10y agoWalking to the grocery store sounds ridiculous to me. Even when I could see one from my house I never walked there to do the weekly shopping. I typically buy more than I can carry. I guess it depends on whether you have a big family or not...
- xxpor 10y agoSee, the issue is that you're doing weekly shopping in the first place. I typically shop on Sunday, which carries me over til Wednesday, then shop on W/Th. I know quite a few people that shop almost every day.
- bryanlarsen 10y ago"weekly shopping". There's your difference. In those places, you do 5-10 minutes of shopping 7 days a week, instead of 60 minutes of shopping once a week. Those corner grocery stores are tiny, you can be in and out quick.
- mattmcknight 10y agoI really doubt any daily shopping can be done in 5 minutes. Most NYC grocery stores are very busy. Going to the store every day seems ridiculously inefficient, and corner stores rarely have everything, forcing multiple stops.
- abalashov 10y agoCorner stores may not, but there are plenty of compact grocery stores in Europe that do. And yes, the five minutes should not be taken literally. On the other hand, if it's on your way home--which is usually the idea--you don't need to park, walk from your car to the store, go through a lengthy check-out with lots of items, hoof it all back to your car, get back out of the parking lot, etc.
- hasenj 10y agoI don't know about Europe but the in the Middle East you usually would just go straight to the shop keeper and ask for the items you want and he would have someone grab them for you.