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Why is it that these “economic development” non-profits and city planning think tanks all sing a similar tune and have no money? Why don’t developers and land (

Why is it that these “economic development” non-profits and city planning think tanks all sing a similar tune and have no money? Why don’t developers and land (home) owners align with the (supposed) best thinking in city planning? Why aren’t the cities planning themselves like these outsiders want? It seems to me if you really want to design a city, I mean really care you’d be better off becoming a real estate investor or developer and then building things how you think they should be built. The Strong Cities folks and the like don’t seem to have good answers for how you actually implement their ideas without wealth destruction and dislocation of communities that have built up in ways that don’t meet the standards of urban planning high ideals. The Haussmannisation of Paris 2.0 is not going to happen in a US city full of middle class land owners. Maybe we’d take these people seriously if they had a reasonable PLAN for implementing their grand ideals

carapace 7y ago
I don't know if I'm one of "these people", but you're singing my tune. I want to start a kind of real estate development company to buy distressed land (as opposed to raw wilderness) and develop "living neighborhoods"[1] (like Village Homes[2] in Davis, CA) combining Pattern Language and Permaculture (applied ecology), and sell sell them. "Rinse and repeat". I don't know of anybody else doing something like this, and yeah, it puzzles me too. [1] https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm Christopher Alexander's site. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes
zemvpferreira 7y ago
Why is it that these "nutritionists" spend all their time talking about clean eating with no results? Clearly regular people can't eat more vegetables and less Doritos. Maybe we'd take them more seriously if they had a reasonable plan to thin America down. I'm a strong town proponent and advocate (though I live in Portugal where many of these problems never surfaced on the same scale). I'm also a real estate investor. The crux of it is that the priority for urban planning enthusiasts must be education, not mass rebuilding. A large, large majority of people would still rather take out buy a horrible McMansion in a soulless development than buy a smaller, well-built home closer to their neighbours. Showing off wealth and ticking off features is valued over long-term enjoyment of your home and betterment of the community. Is it such a surprise that it's hard to get a large number of folks to do what's best in the long term instead of what they want right now?
projektfu 7y ago
Developers do want to get involved, but you're right that homeowners often fight changes to zoning. Not all homeowners, but enough. People who live in single family homes often think that multifamily dwellings are going to destroy the value of their property somehow. Since the zoning laws are on the books, changing them is much harder than maintaining the status quo, which is on the side of NIMBYs.
indymike 7y ago
I think it's the airline food problem. If you poll people on what the airline should serve in flight, everyone says healthy. When you serve healthy, everyone complains, demanding a cheeseburger or pizza.

carapace 7y ago

I don't know if I'm one of "these people", but you're singing my tune. I want to start a kind of real estate development company to buy distressed land (as opposed to raw wilderness) and develop "living neighborhoods"[1] (like Village Homes[2] in Davis, CA) combining Pattern Language and Permaculture (applied ecology), and sell sell them. "Rinse and repeat". I don't know of anybody else doing something like this, and yeah, it puzzles me too. [1] https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm https://www.livingneighborhoods.org/ht-0/bln-exp.htm Christopher Alexander's site. [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Village_Homes

zemvpferreira 7y ago

Why is it that these "nutritionists" spend all their time talking about clean eating with no results? Clearly regular people can't eat more vegetables and less Doritos. Maybe we'd take them more seriously if they had a reasonable plan to thin America down. I'm a strong town proponent and advocate (though I live in Portugal where many of these problems never surfaced on the same scale). I'm also a real estate investor. The crux of it is that the priority for urban planning enthusiasts must be education, not mass rebuilding. A large, large majority of people would still rather take out buy a horrible McMansion in a soulless development than buy a smaller, well-built home closer to their neighbours. Showing off wealth and ticking off features is valued over long-term enjoyment of your home and betterment of the community. Is it such a surprise that it's hard to get a large number of folks to do what's best in the long term instead of what they want right now?

projektfu 7y ago

Developers do want to get involved, but you're right that homeowners often fight changes to zoning. Not all homeowners, but enough. People who live in single family homes often think that multifamily dwellings are going to destroy the value of their property somehow. Since the zoning laws are on the books, changing them is much harder than maintaining the status quo, which is on the side of NIMBYs.

indymike 7y ago

I think it's the airline food problem. If you poll people on what the airline should serve in flight, everyone says healthy. When you serve healthy, everyone complains, demanding a cheeseburger or pizza.