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Just to reinforce this: for the vast majority of people who don’t live in the countryside, desirability is almost all about nearby human activities. Look at wha
by mikeash 8y ago
Just to reinforce this: for the vast majority of people who don’t live in the countryside, desirability is almost all about nearby human activities. Look at what makes a location desirable: good schools, good job prospects, retail, night life, transportation, etc. It should be pretty clear that this is definitely not fixed.
- ThrustVectoring 8y agoThat's uhh, way less true than you think it is. There's some pretty important geographical considerations. 1. Cheap shipping via navigable rivers 2. Deep water ports 3. Not subject to periodic flooding 4. Flatness (not a huge deal, but it does make construction cheaper) 5. Soil suitability for construction (especially relevant is where the bedrock is, and what kind of soil lies atop it) Granted, a lot of this is merely the reason why network effects got started where they did. But they are still highly relevant considerations that add completely natural value to land, regardless of what people would decide to do with it.
- mikeash 8y agoLots of desirable locations exist without those things. Lots of places with those things exist without being desirable.
- wpietri 8y agoI would submit that the first two are effectively irrelevant today. I agree they were historically important, but today we have cheap shipping handled. Note also that your "uhh" is something many people find objectionable. E.g. https://web.archive.org/web/20070105163441/http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a12088/ https://web.archive.org/web/20070105163441/http://www.televi... with more discussion here: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=28802 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=28802