3 ms·

> Either rooftop solar, or green roofs everywhere If you want a dense city, you want green roofs - with access. Land in a city is too valuable to waste on sola

> Either rooftop solar, or green roofs everywhere If you want a dense city, you want green roofs - with access. Land in a city is too valuable to waste on solar - stick that stuff out in the desert where nobody wants to be. > Cut-and-cover highway tunnels Take an existing dense city like Manhattan and build a new platform above the roads. Existing ground floor becomes basement, new platforms become park/pavements/plazas rather than for cars and trucks. Cities rise anyway - look at down town Seatle for a high speed example, but if you go to old cities in the UK, say Cambridge, and look at buildings 1000 years old, they're a significant drop down from today's "ground level".

mbreese 6y ago
> Cities rise anyway - look at down town Seatle for a high speed example, but if you go to old cities in the UK, say Cambridge, and look at buildings 1000 years old, they're a significant drop down from today's "ground level". Or, if you’re someplace like 1850-1860s Chicago, you just lift the entire city up a few feet to create a new ground level. This too was for infrastructure reasons, but instead of transportation, it was for a sewer/drainage system. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago This then repeated itself in Chicago (and elsewhere). In the twentieth century, buildings were constructed over existing (and working) rail lines. These are existing example of using air rights to hide infrastructure to make the rest of the city more livable. https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/technology-that-changed-chicago-air-rights/ https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/technology-that-changed... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights Even more recently, capping a highway was proposed by Cincinnati in their bid for Amazon’s HQ2. https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/09/25/how-cincinnati-could-land-amazons-hq2/ https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/09/25/how-cincinnati-could-...
3131s 6y ago
My dream is to live in a city of large "superblocks" with public roof spaces that are interconnected by skyways.
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
  Yah. I too like the concept of 3-D space. But... Thinking about what I've seen so far I doubt it. What is the meaning of "public access" here? Gated, guarded and "operated" spaces, where you need to be paying customer for some venue, or buying a ticket? The places themselves fenced/glass walled in to discourage suicides, stupid people throwing things down from high up, even if "only" a coin? I mean, look at anything which comes to your mind right now, where people can go high above anything else where other people are below them. It varies, but often it is heavily fenced/walled to protect the people below. And lastly, think of "reckless youth", and how groups/gangs of them tend to ... err ... impose dominance over places they consider "theirs". Would you want to be there?
  - iso1631 6y ago
    Do tower blocks not have balconies or roof terraces where you live?
    - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
      They do, but they aren't public access.
      - iso1631 6y ago
        But there's no problem with kids throwing objects from the roof? I don't recognize this gang thing, maybe because I don't live in a dense city (and don't recognize the attraction of it)
        LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
        I almost never saw that, maybe because we have something like "Aufsichtspflicht" which means duty/responsibility/liability to watch and guard(over the kids). Could be different due to different demographics/ethnicities in social hot-spots now, but I don't frequent them(that much). Also the access to the roof there is closed/locked for liability reasons by the landlord. And usually the higher ones(more than 4 or 5 floors) aren't next to the street, there is some green separating them. But the residential buildings weren't really what I had in my mind when I thought about that. More like downtown, central business/commerce areas, traffic hubs, and such.
navaati 6y ago
Paris' business district, "La Défense", is an excellent exemple of just that :) It's one giant "slate" constructed above the roads, between the skyscrappers. You don't see the cars and it's a nice place, really feels like how the future ought to be.

mbreese 6y ago

> Cities rise anyway - look at down town Seatle for a high speed example, but if you go to old cities in the UK, say Cambridge, and look at buildings 1000 years old, they're a significant drop down from today's "ground level". Or, if you’re someplace like 1850-1860s Chicago, you just lift the entire city up a few feet to create a new ground level. This too was for infrastructure reasons, but instead of transportation, it was for a sewer/drainage system. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_of_Chicago This then repeated itself in Chicago (and elsewhere). In the twentieth century, buildings were constructed over existing (and working) rail lines. These are existing example of using air rights to hide infrastructure to make the rest of the city more livable. https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/technology-that-changed-chicago-air-rights/ https://www.chipublib.org/blogs/post/technology-that-changed... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_rights Even more recently, capping a highway was proposed by Cincinnati in their bid for Amazon’s HQ2. https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/09/25/how-cincinnati-could-land-amazons-hq2/ https://cincinnatiideas.com/2017/09/25/how-cincinnati-could-...

3131s 6y ago

My dream is to live in a city of large "superblocks" with public roof spaces that are interconnected by skyways.

LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
Yah. I too like the concept of 3-D space. But... Thinking about what I've seen so far I doubt it. What is the meaning of "public access" here? Gated, guarded and "operated" spaces, where you need to be paying customer for some venue, or buying a ticket? The places themselves fenced/glass walled in to discourage suicides, stupid people throwing things down from high up, even if "only" a coin? I mean, look at anything which comes to your mind right now, where people can go high above anything else where other people are below them. It varies, but often it is heavily fenced/walled to protect the people below. And lastly, think of "reckless youth", and how groups/gangs of them tend to ... err ... impose dominance over places they consider "theirs". Would you want to be there?
- iso1631 6y ago
  Do tower blocks not have balconies or roof terraces where you live?
  - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
    They do, but they aren't public access.
    - iso1631 6y ago
      But there's no problem with kids throwing objects from the roof? I don't recognize this gang thing, maybe because I don't live in a dense city (and don't recognize the attraction of it)
      - LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago
        I almost never saw that, maybe because we have something like "Aufsichtspflicht" which means duty/responsibility/liability to watch and guard(over the kids). Could be different due to different demographics/ethnicities in social hot-spots now, but I don't frequent them(that much). Also the access to the roof there is closed/locked for liability reasons by the landlord. And usually the higher ones(more than 4 or 5 floors) aren't next to the street, there is some green separating them. But the residential buildings weren't really what I had in my mind when I thought about that. More like downtown, central business/commerce areas, traffic hubs, and such.

navaati 6y ago

Paris' business district, "La Défense", is an excellent exemple of just that :) It's one giant "slate" constructed above the roads, between the skyscrappers. You don't see the cars and it's a nice place, really feels like how the future ought to be.