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Almost by definition, people prefer to live in dense areas. In terms of prescriptive advice, high-density housing reduces urban sprawl. If you can convince a t
by matt4077 8y ago
Almost by definition, people prefer to live in dense areas.
In terms of prescriptive advice, high-density housing reduces urban sprawl. If you can convince a third of suburbia to change to denser housing, commute times for everyone would be cut in half. Vast swaths of land could also return to farmland or nature preserves.
So even people who personally prefer to live "just outside the city" should advocate for denser housing. When the city builds up, everything moves towards the center.
I just measured the distance from city centre to the countryside for two cities of about equal size:
Hamburg (Pop 1.5 mil): 8mi
Houston (Pop 1.8 mil): 22mi
(I chose these because LA and Chicago have coastal layouts which aren't comparable. They also connect directly to other urban areas which for the purposes of this exercise should be considered as "farmland". Or you could add their respective populations which would further amplify the difference)
- epistasis 8y ago> So even people who personally prefer to live "just outside the city" should advocate for denser housing. When the city builds up, everything moves towards the center. Thanks for making this point, so many people vociferously object to any density anywhere. Nobody is being forcibly relocated to dense living, but people are being forcibly denied the option of dense living. It's similar to transit and traffic: though other people taking transit helps drivers encounter traffic, far too many drivers will attack transit because it's "not something they use." Realizing that other people want different things and that those different things might help you with your own wants is a complicated topic for public discussion.