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Sounds like a great idea, but NZ is struggling to build fast enough. NZ has a terrible attitude where everyone must have a backyard, and public transport is hor

by wepple 8y ago

Sounds like a great idea, but NZ is struggling to build fast enough. NZ has a terrible attitude where everyone must have a backyard, and public transport is horrendous, so moving further out often isn’t much of a solution. The current govt promised to build ambitious numbers of new affordable homes, but I haven’t seen any strategy on how they plan to execute on it.

kodablah 8y ago
> NZ has a terrible attitude where everyone must have a backyard, and public transport is horrendous, so moving further out often isn’t much of a solution. Oddly enough, other places with that attitude are the same ones where moving further out is a solution. Pejoratively dubbed "sprawl", there is less focus on centralized things like limited property sizes and intra-city public transportation. If the land is available, it offers reasonable scale despite the detracting urbanites' cries of culture loss. Maybe it's not the attitude that's terrible, but the inability to support it possibly caused by people not embracing the reality that the attitude exists.
- amanaplanacanal 8y ago
  Moving farther out has its own set of problems: longer commutes, and much costlier infrastructure. At least in the US, outlying areas frequently don't pay enough in property taxes to maintain the amount of infrastructure necessary to reach those outlying areas, putting strain on municipal budgets. Nobody wants to pay more taxes.
  - kodablah 8y ago
    I'm seeing, also at least in the US, a combination of remote work and business moving out of the confines of a large metro's downtown into the sprawl themselves. This reduces commute. I'm also seeing more inter-burb infrastructure becoming private and not relying on funds from the municipalities they traverse. I feel like inner city space is more constrained than outer city budgets.
    - wepple 8y ago
      Yeah, I think that would really be a great solution. With NZs 3 year terms, no govt is prepared to invest heavily in infrastructure, which leaves privatization. Which kiwis really really hate. The insane choke point that is the Auckland harbor bridge could be resolved if a private company put in a second crossing, but nobody is prepared to pay or let it be in their backyard. Having lived in large cities including the US, I do love the attitude to just do stuff.

by wepple 8y ago

kodablah 8y ago

> NZ has a terrible attitude where everyone must have a backyard, and public transport is horrendous, so moving further out often isn’t much of a solution. Oddly enough, other places with that attitude are the same ones where moving further out is a solution. Pejoratively dubbed "sprawl", there is less focus on centralized things like limited property sizes and intra-city public transportation. If the land is available, it offers reasonable scale despite the detracting urbanites' cries of culture loss. Maybe it's not the attitude that's terrible, but the inability to support it possibly caused by people not embracing the reality that the attitude exists.

amanaplanacanal 8y ago
Moving farther out has its own set of problems: longer commutes, and much costlier infrastructure. At least in the US, outlying areas frequently don't pay enough in property taxes to maintain the amount of infrastructure necessary to reach those outlying areas, putting strain on municipal budgets. Nobody wants to pay more taxes.
- kodablah 8y ago
  I'm seeing, also at least in the US, a combination of remote work and business moving out of the confines of a large metro's downtown into the sprawl themselves. This reduces commute. I'm also seeing more inter-burb infrastructure becoming private and not relying on funds from the municipalities they traverse. I feel like inner city space is more constrained than outer city budgets.
  - wepple 8y ago
    Yeah, I think that would really be a great solution. With NZs 3 year terms, no govt is prepared to invest heavily in infrastructure, which leaves privatization. Which kiwis really really hate. The insane choke point that is the Auckland harbor bridge could be resolved if a private company put in a second crossing, but nobody is prepared to pay or let it be in their backyard. Having lived in large cities including the US, I do love the attitude to just do stuff.