4 ms·

I love seeing solutions like this work in small European countries with small, homogeneous populations, and then watching a bunch of Silicon Valley folk--who li

I love seeing solutions like this work in small European countries with small, homogeneous populations, and then watching a bunch of Silicon Valley folk--who live in a relatively small, homogeneous population--rant about how this should be the standard for the whole US, which has neither a small nor homogeneous population. Edit: homogeneous areas, not populations. My bad.

namdnay 7y ago
I’m not sure what is homogenous about Switzerland? If anything it’s one of the more heterogeneous countries out there: a federation of regions with quite different cultures and languages. And Swiss towns are far more mixed socio-economically than the segregated suburbs common to many other countries
- rpmisms 7y ago
  Relative to the US, every country is homogenous. We're a huge, sprawling mass of literally every country on earth, liberally sprinkled across dozens of different biomes.
  - namdnay 7y ago
    Ok, but what does this have to do with urban planning. The EU is a huge sprawling mass of literally every country in earth across dozens of biomes, and yet that didn’t stop Zurich from making these choices
    - kgwgk 7y ago
      Because Zurich is not in the EU! (I’m joking, I agree with your point.)
      - namdnay 7y ago
        Oops good point!
  - microtherion 7y ago
    Zürich has roughly the same proportion of foreign born residents as San Francisco.
  - bogomipz 7y ago
    A country with 3 different official languages and where two of its largest cities are mostly expats and foreign nationals can hardly be called "homogenous."
    - pinkfoot 7y ago
      4 official languages. German, Italian, French, and Romansh.
lnsp 7y ago
I would describe Zurich's population as rather heterogenous, but you've made a case. I don't think this should be standard for every region because you need a high-population density to be efficient (e.g. rural Swiss areas look very different from Zurich), but it definitely is a very good approach for densely populated urban areas. Zurich has a very high quality of life and I would give a non-negligible amount of credit to public transport.
seanmcdirmid 7y ago
Are you trying to claim that Zurich is homogeneous? Switzerland is like 25% foreigner, and many of them (along with full Swiss citizens) aren’t white, that would be magnified in a bigger Swiss city like Zurich. Also, since when is Silicon Valley homogeneous?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
simongray 7y ago
Could you explain to us how a country's population size and overall diversity has any effect on a city's local transportation system? Because you skipped the part actually explaining how that is in any way relevant.
- microtherion 7y ago
  In the US, it's not entirely baseless to speculate that wealthier residents perceive public transit as largely for the benefit of the lower classes, and sometimes block it in neighborhoods to keep out the riff-raff. In Switzerland, public transit is used by (demographically) everyone. You can meet the Swiss president catching a train to work https://img.blick.ch/incoming/3100960-v4-bildschirmfoto-2014-09-03-um-09-54-45.jpg?imwidth=1000&ratio=FREE&x=0&y=0&width=431&height=288 https://img.blick.ch/incoming/3100960-v4-bildschirmfoto-2014... or the captain of the local hockey team bringing home the cup after a night's out celebrating the national championship: https://www.20min.ch/diashow/46825/46825-0dtUaFAvgxvMBKiL0V6DkA.jpg https://www.20min.ch/diashow/46825/46825-0dtUaFAvgxvMBKiL0V6...
bllguo 7y ago
why should my culture or background influence my need for transportation? the swiss have different economic classes too so let's not bring that in play.
scarejunba 7y ago
Dude, San Francisco is small, no less homogeneous than Switzerland and fairly wealthy so we can conclude the difference isn't due to that. Also, absolute straw man. No one is asking that Cary, NC have underground rail.
TulliusCicero 7y ago
Singapore is very far from homogeneous, and still has excellent public transit. Germany is not a small country by population, and has vastly superior public transport compared to the US. You're just making an excuse for your own preferences.

namdnay 7y ago

I’m not sure what is homogenous about Switzerland? If anything it’s one of the more heterogeneous countries out there: a federation of regions with quite different cultures and languages. And Swiss towns are far more mixed socio-economically than the segregated suburbs common to many other countries

rpmisms 7y ago
Relative to the US, every country is homogenous. We're a huge, sprawling mass of literally every country on earth, liberally sprinkled across dozens of different biomes.
- namdnay 7y ago
  Ok, but what does this have to do with urban planning. The EU is a huge sprawling mass of literally every country in earth across dozens of biomes, and yet that didn’t stop Zurich from making these choices
  - kgwgk 7y ago
    Because Zurich is not in the EU! (I’m joking, I agree with your point.)
    - namdnay 7y ago
      Oops good point!
- microtherion 7y ago
  Zürich has roughly the same proportion of foreign born residents as San Francisco.
- bogomipz 7y ago
  A country with 3 different official languages and where two of its largest cities are mostly expats and foreign nationals can hardly be called "homogenous."
  - pinkfoot 7y ago
    4 official languages. German, Italian, French, and Romansh.

lnsp 7y ago

I would describe Zurich's population as rather heterogenous, but you've made a case. I don't think this should be standard for every region because you need a high-population density to be efficient (e.g. rural Swiss areas look very different from Zurich), but it definitely is a very good approach for densely populated urban areas. Zurich has a very high quality of life and I would give a non-negligible amount of credit to public transport.

seanmcdirmid 7y ago

Are you trying to claim that Zurich is homogeneous? Switzerland is like 25% foreigner, and many of them (along with full Swiss citizens) aren’t white, that would be magnified in a bigger Swiss city like Zurich. Also, since when is Silicon Valley homogeneous?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

simongray 7y ago

Could you explain to us how a country's population size and overall diversity has any effect on a city's local transportation system? Because you skipped the part actually explaining how that is in any way relevant.

microtherion 7y ago
In the US, it's not entirely baseless to speculate that wealthier residents perceive public transit as largely for the benefit of the lower classes, and sometimes block it in neighborhoods to keep out the riff-raff. In Switzerland, public transit is used by (demographically) everyone. You can meet the Swiss president catching a train to work https://img.blick.ch/incoming/3100960-v4-bildschirmfoto-2014-09-03-um-09-54-45.jpg?imwidth=1000&ratio=FREE&x=0&y=0&width=431&height=288 https://img.blick.ch/incoming/3100960-v4-bildschirmfoto-2014... or the captain of the local hockey team bringing home the cup after a night's out celebrating the national championship: https://www.20min.ch/diashow/46825/46825-0dtUaFAvgxvMBKiL0V6DkA.jpg https://www.20min.ch/diashow/46825/46825-0dtUaFAvgxvMBKiL0V6...

bllguo 7y ago

why should my culture or background influence my need for transportation? the swiss have different economic classes too so let's not bring that in play.

scarejunba 7y ago

Dude, San Francisco is small, no less homogeneous than Switzerland and fairly wealthy so we can conclude the difference isn't due to that. Also, absolute straw man. No one is asking that Cary, NC have underground rail.

TulliusCicero 7y ago

Singapore is very far from homogeneous, and still has excellent public transit. Germany is not a small country by population, and has vastly superior public transport compared to the US. You're just making an excuse for your own preferences.