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A New Blueprint for American Cities
- raxxorrax 5y agoAdvertising a green and car-free city has become some hobby of progressives as of late but I doubt these models are realistic. Individual transport doesn't go away anymore. You don't need it if you don't have family members that need your support and live elsewhere, you don't need it if you don't need to transport furniture, tools or other heavy and common household utility items, ... Yeah, sure, but the logistical problem is work getting more centralized and therefore cities attract more and more people. Instead of planning high-density residential zones, you should look at commerce and industrial ones. Yes, I am a Sim City enthusiast and that makes me the perfect city planner. Oh, it doesn't? Right, but the same is true for the Starbucks slurping progressive that just bought his first bicycle and involuntarily advertises in the interest of large real estate groups. I happen to live in a city that has a car free center (Europe). It is a beautiful city with broad biking lanes. Completely awesome, but it simply doesn't really scale. There is a fixed upper limit in how many people the infrastructure can support. It was changed 15 years ago and today inhabitants have even more cars than before. There are some that go without a car now, but it comes with a significant hit in mobility. People are drawn to the city because of work. It is as simple as that. Tokyo has problems with congestion because most offices are located in the city center. That is an obvious design flaw and exists because of historical reasons. The suburbs are spread out, but the exact same problems would exist with high density housing. With public transport available, the distance becomes a secondary concern, so the spread is not really a problem. The problem is that the work is centralized in one place where everyone needs to go.