5 ms·
After living in Asia for the last several years where cities combine high density housing and good mass transit with door to door access to great shopping cente
by cageface 5y ago
After living in Asia for the last several years where cities combine high density housing and good mass transit with door to door access to great shopping centers the US just looks comically dysfunctional to me.
Who wants to spend hours every day stuck in traffic and looking for parking and then pay outrageous rents for the privilege?
- jiveturkey 5y agoWell obviously, the people that want low density housing. It's still the American dream to have a house with a yard and fence.
- cageface 5y agoI grew up in such a house and honestly now if you gave me the choice of that vs living in a nice condo in Tokyo, Bangkok or Singapore it wouldn't even be close.
- micromacrofoot 5y agoSame, I live in a small house by American standards and would willingly live in 1/4 the space if it meant I could easily move to somewhere like Tokyo.
- acdha 5y agoThere's certainly a lot of iconography around that but I think that statement is dramatically overselling the strength and universality of that image. Millions of people have chosen suburbs since that was so heavily subsidized in the post-WWII era and limited supply meant there weren't good alternatives in many cases, but I would be careful assuming that this a deep preference rather than picking the default option. In particular, I think you'd see very different responses when people were asked to choose realistic options: it's easy to say you like the idyllic image realtors promote with luxurious houses, perfect landscaping, happy kids at great schools, etc. but quite another to say you want to spend a couple hours a day stuck in an expensive car because there's almost nothing to do within walking distance, take on additional expenses (landscaping, lower density requires higher taxes for infrastructure, etc.), and otherwise live the actual suburban lifestyle for most people rather than the postcard version.
- robotburrito 5y agoI too have this dream. Unfortunately the behavior here in mass transit is much different than what I experienced in Asia. This turns many people off to using it IMO.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago> Who wants to spend hours every day stuck in traffic and looking for parking and then pay outrageous rents for the privilege? I'm guessing you didn't live in Beijing or Shanghai. Though to their benefit, both had reasonable transit and lots of affordable taxis. But...I've never seen traffic as bad as Beijing in the USA, even in LA. And the wild parking is crazy: how can someone afford a black Audi A8 yet still have to park it on the road illegally because they lack a parking space for their apartment?
- cageface 5y agoYeah I've never been to mainland China. Traffic in Bangkok is also horrible but you can mostly avoid it if you live near a train station and plan your activities accordingly.
- seanmcdirmid 5y agoTraffic in Bangkok isn't that bad compare to Beijing. At least whenever we visited Thailand, it was like going from a super crowded mega city to a city that was less populated and much more mellow (not to mention, it had much cleaner air!).
- sydbarrett74 5y agoUnfortunately, many Americans are under the spell of American Exceptionalism, and they believe in their heart of hearts that no other country on the planet can possibly do anything better than 'Merkuh does it.
- maccolgan 5y agoWhat part of Asia are you living in? Remember Asia is a massive fucking continent...