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Much of the land in the American West made its way into private hands through homesteading, where farmers earned the land by improving (i.e. farming) it. It's
by drewmate 8y ago
Much of the land in the American West made its way into private hands through homesteading, where farmers earned the land by improving (i.e. farming) it. It's worth considering what modern homesteading could look like. Perhaps large development groups could make deals to plant dense neighborhood seeds (e.g. multi-use buildings in grids with a plan to expand into an actual community) and pay for connecting highways in exchange for exclusive rights to surrounding parcels of land. There is a lot of federal land in the west that is close to existing development. Could it be used to create healthier cities in those areas?
- gnarcoregrizz 8y agoAnd we were all making fun of China's ghost cities not too long ago...
- icebraining 8y agoIf you have the money to build a bunch of buildings in the middle of nowhere, is the cost of the land really a big impediment?
- xyzzyz 8y agoIf you want to build houses of similar quality to those built by homesteaders, it's really, really cheap.
- drewmate 8y agoThat's a good point. It would have to be the right set of circumstances: with unused land in close proximity to an existing city that can't manage to scale up because of entrenched interests. I suspect such areas exist (perhaps around Salt Lake City, or Las Vegas) and there might be a chance to make a true dense city in those areas rather than the sprawl that has developed naturally.