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What is being described here is a working multi-functional town centre - a place to walk to, make necessary purchases and hang out and even eat out. We know ho
by lifeisstillgood 7y ago
What is being described here is a working multi-functional town centre - a place to walk to, make necessary purchases and hang out and even eat out.
We know how to build more and more of these "town centres" - we used to find them at the centre of almost all towns. The problem is it's not something governments can do or force - it's something they allow, and don't strangle.
It's waaaaay harder.
It is what evolves naturally until it is stretched out of existence by roads and car journeys, or bored to death by same-old franchises that suck revenue back to HQ
It involves ending the nice suburban compromise ( ala StrongTowns) and that is probably a bigger change to modern Western lifestyles than almost anything.
How could we all move back into city-level densities?
- lonelappde 7y agoIf state governments made suburbs pay their bills and externalities out of current accounts instead of mortgaging the future and cutting up and poisoning city residents with highways, the invisible hand of free market economics would push people to live together in cities if they want to keep their highly materialistic lifestyles. As it is, people make short term optimal, long term bankrupt, and tragedy of the commons, pollution externalizing choices.
- closeparen 7y agoI doubt you could build a public transit system without mortgaging the future. If the pollution externalities are priced in, people will buy electric cars.
- lifeisstillgood 7y agoWhat do they drive the electric cars on? I agree about mortgaging the future, but roads + (electric) buses makes a perfectly sensible public transit system for a lot of density levels.