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It's because of the geography. Southern California and Arizona especially were impossible to live in until after Air Conditioning became cheap and widespread in
by hannasanarion 8y ago
It's because of the geography. Southern California and Arizona especially were impossible to live in until after Air Conditioning became cheap and widespread in the 1950s. At that time, modernism in architecture and city planning was at its peak: build it big, build it simple, and build it for cars.
- village-idiot 8y agoThe good news is that droughts will forcefully solve this problem in places like Arizona and SoCal. The bad news is that droughts are coming.
- bryanlarsen 8y agoDesalinization is expensive compared to pumping water out of the ground, but it's dirt cheap compared to ubiquitous air conditioning and/or depopulating cities. The coming droughts will affect agriculture, but not the cities.
- dfee 8y agoThis thread is filled with strange ideas. I live in San Diego. I know people who don’t have air conditioning, and they’re fine. The weather is mild unless you get 15-20 miles off the coast, and then it’s still not that bad 90% of the time. Where did you get this idea?
- danans 8y agoA lot of the post WWII building in Southern California was in areas 15-20 miles inland where A/C helped, i.e parts of OC and the inland empire. Much of the this was spurred by the aerospace and oil industries. Even in LA itself, the urban heat island effect is enough that many homes have A/C.
- djrogers 8y agoSouthern California? There are tons of places in LA and San Diego where AC is entirely optional and often not installed. 72 and sunny is a stereotype for a reason...
- hfdgiutdryg 8y agoThose places are limited to a strip running along the coastline.