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San Francisco is a bonsai kitten. It wants to grow into a major world city like NYC, LA, or Tokyo, but its older residents are steadfastly opposed and want to k
by api 8y ago
San Francisco is a bonsai kitten. It wants to grow into a major world city like NYC, LA, or Tokyo, but its older residents are steadfastly opposed and want to keep it in a jar so it stays cute. The result is a painful deformed mess.
I don't really think city planning boards can control how cities grow. A city is a living thing. If it "wants" to grow, let it grow. If it doesn't, I don't think it can be forced.
Detroit learned the opposite lesson and is recovering in part by realizing that the Detroit of today is destined to be a much smaller city population wise than it once was and they are adjusting and "right-sizing" the city accordingly. They are concentrating on the living areas and demolishing and transforming the dead ones into parks, public gardens, urban farming, or natural land. The result will be a smaller city with a ton of really cool history and a cool "post-industrial" vernacular.
- AFascistWorld 8y agoHave you heard of Boston subway's daily breakdowns?
- api 8y agoSorry I ninja edited with a better thesis. :P Yes I used to live there. The subway system in Boston and NYC is very badly run, but the city as a whole at least for Boston isn't bad. They do a better job with urban planning at least.
- Finnucane 8y agoIt is a conundrum that most American cities do not really support their public transit systems very well, and yet they seem to desire the kind of urban organization that basically requires a well-run transit system.
- Finnucane 8y agoI've lived in New York. Why would anyone want San Francisco to become like that? Is NYC cheap, clean, free of homeless people? No, it is crowded, smelly, expensive, and only livable for the extremely wealthy.
- api 8y agoThe mistake here is assuming that if SF grows it must become NYC. What if it could be better? There are many other even higher density cities than NYC in the world with much better policies and quality of life. Look to those.
- mikeyouse 8y agoRight? This keeps coming up on the neighborhood FB groups whenever anyone discusses SB50 or any changes. "We don't want to become like NYC, where are all these people going to go??" San Francisco could double its population and still be ~30% less dense than Paris is. Let's aim for that. Paris is generally considered to be an okay place.
- rb808 8y ago> Paris is generally considered to be an okay place. Lol do you know anyone who lives there? It has one of the highest property prices and rents in the world.
- Finnucane 8y agoUnion City, New Jersey?
- gwern 8y agoHere's a quick test for you. Next time you go to SF, count how many dogs you see vs children. Then compare the ratio to NYC. Then tell me again about which city is not 'livable'.