4 ms·

This article is about highlighting that you can organize a city of 500,000 people without a car-dominated infrastructure (and all the problems that brings). Not

This article is about highlighting that you can organize a city of 500,000 people without a car-dominated infrastructure (and all the problems that brings). Not every article needs to be about everything.

GhostVII 8y ago
How has this article highlighted that though? Eritrea is clearly not functioning very well, and is quite poor, so I don't think it is something we should hold up as an example of how a city can be organized.
- djtriptych 8y ago
  Cars: - are energy hogs - are loud - are extremely dangerous - require up to 50% of city land to operate.
  - close04 8y ago
    > require up to 50% of city land to operate Where is this number coming from and what does it apply to exactly? It sounds like something that might be realistic in the US but probably not in most other parts of the world.
    - djtriptych 8y ago
      Tried to be careful with "up to". LA's city center has been measured at 59%. I'll try to find the source again. But just consider: - roads - highways / major ingress/egress - sidewalks (yup. Don't really need them without cars) - parking lots & garages A nice source with color-coded maps - http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at-street-area.html http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at... A nice survey/writeup from Vox: https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technologies https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technol...
      - close04 8y ago
        Those are the links are found also before concluding it must be mostly a US thing. I was actually surprised about this. In Europe there far less space dedicated to cars.
  - notahacker 8y ago
    Nobody disputes that road vehicles have downsides On the other hand it is disputed that the impoverished and economically isolated city of Asmara having barely any cars is a demonstration that a city functions well with virtually no access to private motorised transport and inadequate public transport. (cf Groningen had a policy of actively removing roads in favour of cycle paths to achieve high cycle use, achieved very high cycle use whilst remaining a typically prosperous mid-sized northern European city. Asmara might be interesting as a human interest story, but if you want to make arguments about the superfluity of powered road vehicles you'd probably be best citing just about anywhere else... except possibly Yangon)
- penagwin 8y ago
  He's saying the article doesn't need to. The article is about how Eritrea manages without using cars like a traditional city does. The article itself is fairly barebones (not saying this is bad), it covers exactly what it wants - to describe some pictures of the lack of cars. It doesn't try to sugar coat it either, it's fairly open that the reason they don't have cars isn't due to teams of engineers, but rather lack of money to afford them. > which combined with low salaries, high import taxes and fuel shortages
azernik 8y ago
The only way to do that seems to be mass emigration a la Eritrea, leaving a city larger than its population needs; or central planning that builds infrastructure for show rather than actual need, like North Korea.

GhostVII 8y ago

How has this article highlighted that though? Eritrea is clearly not functioning very well, and is quite poor, so I don't think it is something we should hold up as an example of how a city can be organized.

djtriptych 8y ago
Cars: - are energy hogs - are loud - are extremely dangerous - require up to 50% of city land to operate.
- close04 8y ago
  > require up to 50% of city land to operate Where is this number coming from and what does it apply to exactly? It sounds like something that might be realistic in the US but probably not in most other parts of the world.
  - djtriptych 8y ago
    Tried to be careful with "up to". LA's city center has been measured at 59%. I'll try to find the source again. But just consider: - roads - highways / major ingress/egress - sidewalks (yup. Don't really need them without cars) - parking lots & garages A nice source with color-coded maps - http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at-street-area.html http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/12/we-are-25-looking-at... A nice survey/writeup from Vox: https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technologies https://www.vox.com/a/new-economy-future/cars-cities-technol...
    - close04 8y ago
      Those are the links are found also before concluding it must be mostly a US thing. I was actually surprised about this. In Europe there far less space dedicated to cars.
- notahacker 8y ago
  Nobody disputes that road vehicles have downsides On the other hand it is disputed that the impoverished and economically isolated city of Asmara having barely any cars is a demonstration that a city functions well with virtually no access to private motorised transport and inadequate public transport. (cf Groningen had a policy of actively removing roads in favour of cycle paths to achieve high cycle use, achieved very high cycle use whilst remaining a typically prosperous mid-sized northern European city. Asmara might be interesting as a human interest story, but if you want to make arguments about the superfluity of powered road vehicles you'd probably be best citing just about anywhere else... except possibly Yangon)
penagwin 8y ago
He's saying the article doesn't need to. The article is about how Eritrea manages without using cars like a traditional city does. The article itself is fairly barebones (not saying this is bad), it covers exactly what it wants - to describe some pictures of the lack of cars. It doesn't try to sugar coat it either, it's fairly open that the reason they don't have cars isn't due to teams of engineers, but rather lack of money to afford them. > which combined with low salaries, high import taxes and fuel shortages

azernik 8y ago

The only way to do that seems to be mass emigration a la Eritrea, leaving a city larger than its population needs; or central planning that builds infrastructure for show rather than actual need, like North Korea.