6 ms·

This article makes some pretty bold claims in the beginning and then totally fails to back them anywhere in the interview. It repeatedly decried the fall of the

by vxNsr 6y ago

This article makes some pretty bold claims in the beginning and then totally fails to back them anywhere in the interview. It repeatedly decried the fall of the suburbs, and yet throughout the interview talked about how they're being revitalized. By the end it admits that the suburbs are seeing a huge resurgence due to covid and people fleeing the packed cities, but it even claims this was happening before, so what's with those false claims at the start?

ozim 6y ago
I don't see it that way because title is "The People the Suburbs Were Built for Are Gone" and then the whole article is saying how suburbs are revitalized to fit needs of those new inhabitants. So from the start article never was about suburbs. It was about people and social dynamics.
- vxNsr 6y ago
  The first 5 paragraphs go to extreme pains to describe suburbs as failed racist projects that only uncle toms and other racists support. The actual interview spends most of its time focusing on how malls aren’t that useful anymore, and now that they’re changing to be useful people are moving back out to the suburbs. But the core idea of the suburbs: large SFU homes on large plots of land is never questioned.
georgeplusplus 6y ago
That’s kind of the vibe I got from the article as well. The guy being interviewed had a lot to speak about with little actually being said.
- vxNsr 6y ago
  Honestly that sounds like the author doing a really bad job at transcribing the interview, when you talk you repeat yourself if this was just a video maybe it would be ok, but the author says the same thing “8” times in the intro paragraphs and then appears to just transcribe exactly what was said.
- CRConrad 6y ago
  One has to wonder how seriously to take your opinions on an article that you characterize as [a] "guy being interviewed", when the article starts off by introducing the two women interviewed.
jgtrosh 6y ago
Another source making similar claims and who claim to back them up are Strong Towns: https://www.strongtowns.org/book https://www.strongtowns.org/book I haven't looked into it, but I heard about it via the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes whose creator makes videos based on his experience and on his reading of Strong Towns. Starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SXXTBypIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SXXTBypIg Disclaimer: I'm a dirty European with a natural bias against American suburbia and I haven't read the strong towns book. Also strong town's presentation looks a bit like a cult but that might just be my impression.
- anewaccount2021 6y ago
  Strongtowns and Citylab were both conceived by single, childless white people to decry the suburbs as an antiquated mode of living. Their anti-rural sentiments were rooted in a soft-race/class prejudice and a desire to force everyone into one demographic and electoral cohort. In the end it was just a highbrow attempt to demean the "deplorables". Covid authoritatively decimated their theses. NYC and SF are emptying, while suburbia is seeing bidding wars. Its so bad that Jerry Seinfeld started an organization that asks Manhattanites to publicly pledge to not move away. I've not heard a peep from either Strongtowns or Citylab since the trends went fully in opposition to their theses, but as soon as enough Blue Checkmarks start blogging about the campy thrill of having a backyard, they'll quietly start chatting up suburbia
  - geofft 6y ago
    > NYC and SF are emptying As an NYC renter who's been spending a lot of time looking at sales listings in the NYC housing market recently: This is not true. You are repeating a lie. If it were true, I and my other renter friends would at least be able to keep our rents steady. My rent went up during covid, as did others'. And we're in perfectly generic apartments. A couple of loud rich people are posting thinkpieces about leaving. A couple of folks who hate NYC and SF are aggressively retweeting those posts. And, perhaps, growth is slowing down. But the city is not "emptying." But if it helps you feel more oppressed and backs up your identity politics, believe whatever you want.
anewaccount2021 6y ago
the suburbs fell? suburban home prices are up 15% just from last year. homes overbid with multiple cash offers in most metro regions. meanwhile look at the exodus from NYC. the defining story of human geography in the last year is a movement from cities to suburbs despite that, "people want dense cities" is an evergreen meme on HN
bpodgursky 6y ago
"Editors Write Headlines, Editors Want Clicks" Pretty much the answer to any question about why a headline's hook doesn't land in the meat of the article. They got what they wanted from you.

by vxNsr 6y ago

ozim 6y ago

I don't see it that way because title is "The People the Suburbs Were Built for Are Gone" and then the whole article is saying how suburbs are revitalized to fit needs of those new inhabitants. So from the start article never was about suburbs. It was about people and social dynamics.

vxNsr 6y ago
The first 5 paragraphs go to extreme pains to describe suburbs as failed racist projects that only uncle toms and other racists support. The actual interview spends most of its time focusing on how malls aren’t that useful anymore, and now that they’re changing to be useful people are moving back out to the suburbs. But the core idea of the suburbs: large SFU homes on large plots of land is never questioned.

georgeplusplus 6y ago

That’s kind of the vibe I got from the article as well. The guy being interviewed had a lot to speak about with little actually being said.

vxNsr 6y ago
Honestly that sounds like the author doing a really bad job at transcribing the interview, when you talk you repeat yourself if this was just a video maybe it would be ok, but the author says the same thing “8” times in the intro paragraphs and then appears to just transcribe exactly what was said.
CRConrad 6y ago
One has to wonder how seriously to take your opinions on an article that you characterize as [a] "guy being interviewed", when the article starts off by introducing the two women interviewed.

jgtrosh 6y ago

Another source making similar claims and who claim to back them up are Strong Towns: https://www.strongtowns.org/book https://www.strongtowns.org/book I haven't looked into it, but I heard about it via the YouTube channel Not Just Bikes whose creator makes videos based on his experience and on his reading of Strong Towns. Starting point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SXXTBypIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SXXTBypIg Disclaimer: I'm a dirty European with a natural bias against American suburbia and I haven't read the strong towns book. Also strong town's presentation looks a bit like a cult but that might just be my impression.

anewaccount2021 6y ago
Strongtowns and Citylab were both conceived by single, childless white people to decry the suburbs as an antiquated mode of living. Their anti-rural sentiments were rooted in a soft-race/class prejudice and a desire to force everyone into one demographic and electoral cohort. In the end it was just a highbrow attempt to demean the "deplorables". Covid authoritatively decimated their theses. NYC and SF are emptying, while suburbia is seeing bidding wars. Its so bad that Jerry Seinfeld started an organization that asks Manhattanites to publicly pledge to not move away. I've not heard a peep from either Strongtowns or Citylab since the trends went fully in opposition to their theses, but as soon as enough Blue Checkmarks start blogging about the campy thrill of having a backyard, they'll quietly start chatting up suburbia
- geofft 6y ago
  > NYC and SF are emptying As an NYC renter who's been spending a lot of time looking at sales listings in the NYC housing market recently: This is not true. You are repeating a lie. If it were true, I and my other renter friends would at least be able to keep our rents steady. My rent went up during covid, as did others'. And we're in perfectly generic apartments. A couple of loud rich people are posting thinkpieces about leaving. A couple of folks who hate NYC and SF are aggressively retweeting those posts. And, perhaps, growth is slowing down. But the city is not "emptying." But if it helps you feel more oppressed and backs up your identity politics, believe whatever you want.

anewaccount2021 6y ago

the suburbs fell? suburban home prices are up 15% just from last year. homes overbid with multiple cash offers in most metro regions. meanwhile look at the exodus from NYC. the defining story of human geography in the last year is a movement from cities to suburbs despite that, "people want dense cities" is an evergreen meme on HN

bpodgursky 6y ago

"Editors Write Headlines, Editors Want Clicks" Pretty much the answer to any question about why a headline's hook doesn't land in the meat of the article. They got what they wanted from you.