3 ms·
Every week, I see a report on how company 'X' cannot meet need 'Y' and how we need more of infrastructure 'Z'. The investigation always stops at this exact poin
by screye 6y ago
Every week, I see a report on how company 'X' cannot meet need 'Y' and how we need more of infrastructure 'Z'. The investigation always stops at this exact point.
Peek a little deeper and the reasons are clear. The American philosophy of urban design is broken at its core.
Public infrastructure enables low cost amenities by distributing costs over the number of intended users, ie. residents of said geographic plot. 'Density' is a non negotiable prerequisite for quality infrastructure that won't spiral a nation into debt.
A public restroom can only be maintained if the users/restroom is high. The exact same logic applies to literally everything. There is an inflection point (Mumbai, my home town, being an excellent example of excess density), but no American city comes anywhere close to it.
________
I am usually cautious about boiling down complex problems to single causes. But, this one I feel confident about.
Over the long run, nothing has (and will continue to) hurt the US more than the galaxy brained American dream of an R1 zoned car centric town.
- whimsicalism 6y agoYou're saying no American city comes close to dense enough for there to be public toilets maintained? I am curious what others think of the veracity of that statement, it leaves me scratching my head a bit. Agreed on the last sentence though.
- screye 6y agomy point was more general to the unsustainability of public infrastructure in sprawl prone towns. Outside of the NE corridor of Boston-NYC-Philly-DC, I don't think any other major US city has the density for a high coverage public toilet network. qualifier City of Boston and SF are fake cities. The real cities of Boston and SF extend far beyond their city boundaries which capture a tiny group of neighborhoods. The real city of Boston would also fail my criterion. Small cities like Portland, Maine do well-ish, but my focus is major cities.
- nelsondev 6y agoSF already has public toilets, mainly located around the Tenderloin/SOMA, to stop people from shitting in the streets. Furthermore, even in American, geographically spread out, “driving cities”, there could still be public toilets people drive to.
- whimsicalism 6y agoI agree on Boston being a pseudo-city, disagree that SF is... Especially if you are including DC but not SF