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I am a huge Jacobs fan. She is so right on so many points. But her followers have taken on cult-like tendencies to the point where anything that isn't a block o
by Arn_Thor 7y ago
I am a huge Jacobs fan. She is so right on so many points. But her followers have taken on cult-like tendencies to the point where anything that isn't a block of five-floor walk-ups with stores on the ground floor by definition is wrong.
I'll draw on Hong Kong as an example, as I'm very familiar with it. Society is flawed, and property developers are de facto rulers, taxing people through rent. That is unsustainable and horrible. Now that has been established, let me talk about the things that do work.
New towns have been built over the last several decades, both by the government and private developers. 30-50-storey residential towers on top of a podium/park, a mall and bus station underneath alongside rail stations, and underground parking space below that. It's far from perfect, but it uniquely solves a number of problems in elegant ways.
It funnels customers effectively through the malls (effectively streets). There is room for recreation on the podium floors and through various services in the mall. They tend to contain lots of family-oriented businesses like daycare centers. Schools and public transit are within short walking distance. Commuters are quickly spirited to various town centers and business districts. Local businesses are thriving in a vibrant business landscape as they have a solid customer base and easy foot traffic.
The very dense nature of the residential towers has allowed Hong Kong to keep its nature parks which are only a short ways away from a large segment of the population. (Yes, this has come at the expense of living space in cramped apartments).
I could go on, but my point is this: It is possible to plan cities that work. It has been done, and it doesn't have to be for rich people.
Hong Kong has learned this lesson through decades of trial and error. The early housing projects didn't really work. But aside from the luxurious investment-geared developments, Hong Kong is seeing a continuous supply of new towns built for the middle class, and (too little) public housing built for the rest. And these are places people enjoy to live in. I think Jane Jacobs would approve
- dragonsh 7y agoLiving in a space, smaller than a prison cell and paying millions for it is not exactly a successful model of living. All those people loitering in shopping malls and spending majority of the time outside not with kids or family is a result of such cramped up space. Funny part is all the frustration of no jobs, no opportunities, and prison cell home is blamed on China and the discontent which needs to be pointed towards the 14 real estate billionaires controlling every aspect of Hong Kong person's life and freedom is very nicely directed towards China as if they made things so bad in Hong Kong. Reality is Hong Kong relied too much on real estate and traded living in prison cell houses for getting rich quick scheme. So the current situation is created by it. After living in Hong Kong for over a decade as an expat can understand pretty well when living in a expat bubble it's hard to see things for majority. Hopefully no city in the world follow Hong Kong model of development will result in same protest and violence be it democracy or autocracy.
- Arn_Thor 7y agoI thought I'd prefaced my comment sufficiently. It's not perfect, far from it. Hong Kong has unique quality of life problems, as you point out. But that doesn't discredit the urbanization model on its own. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
- dragonsh 7y agoThis is not throwing baby out with bathwater but making sure the water is not too hot and the space is enough for baby to breath. Urbanization model's first principle is to provide decent living spaces in harmony with nature to its residents. Any other model which tries to forget this first principle is not a good model. Hong Kong urbanization model failed miserably and resulted in a prison size space which makes people reluctant to spend time at home with family. If you want to look at the model go across in Singapore, they have done a wonderful job learning public housing from Hong Kong. They have done wonders with overall urbanization. So I am not sure how to defend Hong Kong where the repercussions of this form of urbanization is manifested in the form of protest and discontent.
- jrd259 7y agoGlaeser is also a big Jacobs fan, and also thinks she got the part about five story walk-ups wrong. Don't get me wrong, they are great, but given rising population, our cities need either vertical growth or horizontal growth.