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I don't think that "walkable" and "world-class network effects" are actually required to go together. The majority of walkable places around the world are just
by burlesona 7y ago
I don't think that "walkable" and "world-class network effects" are actually required to go together. The majority of walkable places around the world are just ordinary towns you've never heard of.
In North America this tends to be true mostly because just about everything was walkable before WW2, and after WW2 the almost the only places that were left that way were the places too wealthy and expensive to demolish and rebuild around the car. Not too much of a surprise, the places that had that much wealth 70 years ago are still the major hubs of the economy today.
- Noos 7y agoIf it were just walkable, you could pick a smaller city or downtown area and live there, especially with a class that does intellectual or remote work. The issue of "too expensive" is usually that everyone wants to crowd into a few cities because of those network effects and social life features, walkability is one of them. For all the love of decentralization HN has, in practice they very much want to centralize where wealth and power is.
- ghaff 7y agoWhen most people say "walkable," what they generally really mean is walkable + good transit + tons of places they'd actually want to walk to like parks, bars, restaurants, and shops.
- Redoubts 7y ago> If it were just walkable, you could pick a smaller city or downtown area and live there No you couldn't, because most American downtowns completely close down outside of 9-5 M-F.