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You make some reasonable points. I appreciate the catch-22. For me the absolute urban center is just too dense regardless of transportation options. It is nice

You make some reasonable points. I appreciate the catch-22. For me the absolute urban center is just too dense regardless of transportation options. It is nice to have a proximity to it, but even for a bicycle-centric life I prefer more open spaces. The solution IMHO is to cultivate a pedestrian culture, where individuals create a demand, rather than imposing it on them as a city planner. If it comes to it parking lots can easily be redeveloped. There's also the option of public transit, but that brings a proximity to the "undesirables" you mentioned. Above all strip malls, big box stores, modern bridges, overpasses and underpasses are all eyesores for me.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
>Above all strip malls, big box stores, modern bridges, overpasses and underpasses are all eyesores for me. They're an eyesore for everyone. But this is one of those situations where the local maxima for individuals results in a local minima as a society. Once you have a car, it makes no sense to not use it. And no one is going to beat big box stores on pricing. So I'm not going to spend 15% extra at my neighborhood store when I can save a ton of money by driving to Costco, with the car I already have. And I find that anything more than 30min away walking is basically not in walking distance, and in a suburb with large intersections where you have to wait 45+ seconds for light changes and cross large intersections, it's very easy to justify just driving. Especially for the old or those with little kids. I would like to think your solution would work, but I'm at the point of saying it's politically impossible (in a timeframe relevant to a voter's quality of life).