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Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns

Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Of course not. It is the McDonald’s of city planning. Cheap, ugly, bad for you but also shockingly expensive once the medical/infrastructure maintenance bill comes due. Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesthetics. WTF is wrong with us?! Lets stop building ugly shit. Lets leave a legacy. Lets build things of substance and utility that inspires, encourages, and serves the people who use it.

vegetablepotpie 5y ago
That was spicy. I like the message; the analogies are alienating for some people. I agree that we should be focusing on the long term costs of our decisions.
rcpt 5y ago
People unironically put up photos of the Painted Ladies and their stroad all the time
- joshuamorton 5y ago
  In what way are the painted ladies on a stroad? Steiner is a 2 lane street with parking and I think like a <25 mph speed limit. Most of it has bike lanes (although the particular piece in front of the ladies doesn't, or at least didn't until recently). It's very much a street, although it could be a better street.
- seized 5y ago
  Based on the page in the OP, the SF Painted Ladies are about as opposite of a stroad as possible.... No strip malls, giant park across the street, houses all around, low speed limit, characteristic narrow SF street/road... How does that fit the graphic in the OPs link?
- jquery 5y ago
  Could you share such a picture? All the Painted Ladies photos I’ve seen feature a small community street with a top speed of 25mph.
zoe4883 5y ago
Downtown NYC and Paris are ugly, I will take our local roads anytime.
- dntrkv 5y ago
  Yeah they're so ugly that people fly in from all over the world to take photos there.
  - zionic 5y ago
    Ok? People fly into atlanta and go to the varsity, and it’s some of the worst food around. Tourism isn’t always rational.
    - varjag 5y ago
      It's literally the first time I heard Atlanta is a popular tourist destination, while pretty much anyone in the world is aware of cliche Paris and NYC skylines.
      - throwawaygal7 5y ago
        I think the appeal of NYC is the cost and luxury of vacationing there. Even the skyline views - they're nice but I don't think they hold up to mountains. However, I grew up extremely rural so I am biased towards what I know and people like what they like.
        occz 5y ago
        I don't think anyone goes on vacation in cities explicitly because they are more expensive - the appeal is that there's a lot of fun things you can do in cities.
        throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        A large part of tourism is being able to brag about where you went. The cost is just a side effect. You can see this more clearly in the hierarchy of non-urban tourist destinations. Cities like NYC and Paris have high baseline cost of doing business there. If the stuff that did cater to tourists didn't also have broad mass market appeal or other usefulness at those high price points (e.g. a hotel can serve business travelers as well) it would be priced out replaced with other stuff
yarnton99 5y ago
Just trying to find some positive examples of American small towns. As a European, if I were to relocate to the US, where would I find strong town communities? I know for example Ithaca, NY, might qualify. Other examples in the South, Midwest, etc? Also stroads are not just an American problem. I have found horrible stroads in places where you would never expect them such as Oxford or Copenhagen.
- mitchdoogle 5y ago
  There's tons of places similar to Ithaca all around the country
- ehnto 5y ago
  Mountain towns necessarily avoid the stroad/megalopolis layouts.
- xxxtentachyon 5y ago
  As you say, there are plenty in the Northeastern United States. I think the primary historical factors that separates cohesive, walkable towns in the US from more stereotypical American development are the city having been established and built out prior to the 20th century (so there was some initial plan or development that predates cars), and the community either being wealthy enough or remote enough to avoid the pull of cookie-cutter post-war redevelopment. Of the places I’m familiar with, I’d call out Delaware and Montgomery County, PA, much of the Hudson Valley in New York (Hudson, Beacon, Newburgh, …). Outside of the northeast, there are remote locations (i.e. outside of commuting distance from a major city) in the southwest that have clearly defined and stroad-less cores. I’m thinking specifically of Taos County, NM and much of southwestern CO. Ithaca is pushing into city territory (I think it has over 80k residents now), and if we’re going to count it, I’d also nominate small southeastern cities such as Savannah, Richmond, and St Augustine.
  - dont__panic 5y ago
    As someone who grew up in the Northeast, I feel like there aren't very many walkable towns unless you're essentially in the Boston or NYC suburbs. So many towns in upstate NY, MA, and PA had their main streets turned into major thoroughfares for cars... which made them completely unwalkable and miserable to live near, eventually killing the town. Most of my relatives who live near "cute" downtown strips can't even walk to them because their towns haven't bothered to build sidewalks even in the moderately dense parts of town.
refurb 5y ago
This is so out of touch it's kind of offensive. Unlike you, most people struggle to make ends meet, are happy they have a job and can provide for their family. The upper-class "let's build architecture that inspires" screams "I have more money and time than I know what to do with". It's like looking down at people who eat at McDonald's (I got your reference!) with comments like "these folks wouldn't know good food if their life depended on it!". Sorry not everyone can be rich and have the same "refined" sense of taste that you do. But they're too stupid to know what's best for them, right?
- mitchdoogle 5y ago
  Poor people aren't building stroads. Cities and states are, and they do have the money to make them safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
- jklinger410 5y ago
  Hey, this is just a personal attack and has nothing to do with the topic of the post.
- 32kfjh23 5y ago
  How does someone saying that things could be built better come off as high level elitism? I’ve stayed in small European towns where they have the cultural amenities of an American city perhaps five to six times its population. Normal people can live good, healthy lives there. Normal people struggling to survive while driving everywhere with few healthy options in sight is a manufactured issue.
  - sien 5y ago
    When someone says : "Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesthetics." It completely comes over as high level elitism.
    - varjag 5y ago
      When someone objects to comparisons of taste, they insist that everythinn has essentially the same merit. Which is often hypocritical as they'd be rather found dead than with a lower back tattoo themselves.
labster 5y ago
Don’t believe this Imperial Tartarian propaganda. The stroad is the best road. Our urban architecture is the best ever. No one wants that old stuff any more, make it concrete and glass boxes arranged around a big ol’ stroad.
- QuercusMax 5y ago
  Just listen to it. Stroad! It sounds strong, regal, majestic! Rolls off the tongue like music, it does!
- nraynaud 5y ago
  and the weird comercial buildings that look "welcoming" on the road side but actually the entrance is in the back, towards the car park.
jdkee 5y ago
I would buy a NFT of a picture of a nice stroad.
jimnotgym 5y ago
I live in a mediaeval town. Outside of the mediaeval centre are rows of victorian terrace and town houses that grew up around a large railway junction, with warehouses, sidings etc right by the house. When I was young the railway yards had become small businesses, builders merchants, coal merchants, milk rounds, car repair garages etc. Over time they have mostly been turned into more housing and the businesses have moved to out of town 'industrial estates' or 'enterprise parks' where you need a car to get there. Many jobs have moved out there too, even professional service firms that used to fill the quaint offices of the mediaeval centre. The centre edges closer to being a museum every year, and the real commerce is spread out for car drivers around the boundary. On one route out of town the left hand side of the road is an early-mid 20th century parkway, with a grass strip before the street with the houses on it. The other side was little developed due to being a military reservist base. In the last 10 years they have developed it with no regard whatsoever with reflecting the parkway, and the result? Stroadification
goodpoint 5y ago
> Lets stop building ugly shit It's not just a matter of aesthetics. Stroads are incredibly dangerous.
zerocount 5y ago
I like those lower back tattoos, sitting above a nice looking ass. That's a party girl and who doesn't like to party? lol
akyoan 5y ago
European here: While I don't advocate for stroads, they do certainly look cool to "America lovers" all around the world. > Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art Nobody puts up little ugly streets of Milan as art either, but stroads in Vegas and LA are certainly photographed quite a bit. Edit: My comment is confirmed by a few comments just below https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29507951 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29507951
JacobDotVI 5y ago
> Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Yes, but in a different way than I believe your question implies. Edward Burtynsky produced an amazing series of photographs centered around the automobile and in his words, how it "represent[ed] not only freedom, but also something much more conflicted." https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil One of the most internet famous images from that series is of a stroad in Breezewood, PA: https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/news-hub/2019/7/25/what-internet-memes-get-wrong-about-breezewood-pennsylvania https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/news-hub/2019/7/25/what-inte...
- crispyambulance 5y ago
  To be fair, Breezewood is in the middle of a mountain range. Alternative routes are much longer or involve going around the geography. As a result it gets A LOT of traffic going to/from DC-area, Philly, Pittsburgh. It's a pity that the only businesses that can cluster around there are just dull chains and yet another bleak HMS-Host-operated rest stop. If any of you are going through there and have time to get off the PA Turnpike for a while for a meal (or hotel stay), a nice choice would be Bedford PA. It's ~20 miles west of Breezewood. It's an cute old-timey mainstreet town that hasn't been ravaged by rustbelt depression. There are good restaurants there. The Omni Bedford Springs Resort is a nice hotel with a great spa.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  Breezewood is the way it is for historical reasons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezewood,_Pennsylvania#Unusual_I-70_alignment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezewood,_Pennsylvania#Unusu...

vegetablepotpie 5y ago

That was spicy. I like the message; the analogies are alienating for some people. I agree that we should be focusing on the long term costs of our decisions.

rcpt 5y ago

People unironically put up photos of the Painted Ladies and their stroad all the time

joshuamorton 5y ago
In what way are the painted ladies on a stroad? Steiner is a 2 lane street with parking and I think like a <25 mph speed limit. Most of it has bike lanes (although the particular piece in front of the ladies doesn't, or at least didn't until recently). It's very much a street, although it could be a better street.
seized 5y ago
Based on the page in the OP, the SF Painted Ladies are about as opposite of a stroad as possible.... No strip malls, giant park across the street, houses all around, low speed limit, characteristic narrow SF street/road... How does that fit the graphic in the OPs link?
jquery 5y ago
Could you share such a picture? All the Painted Ladies photos I’ve seen feature a small community street with a top speed of 25mph.

zoe4883 5y ago

Downtown NYC and Paris are ugly, I will take our local roads anytime.

dntrkv 5y ago
Yeah they're so ugly that people fly in from all over the world to take photos there.
- zionic 5y ago
  Ok? People fly into atlanta and go to the varsity, and it’s some of the worst food around. Tourism isn’t always rational.
  - varjag 5y ago
    It's literally the first time I heard Atlanta is a popular tourist destination, while pretty much anyone in the world is aware of cliche Paris and NYC skylines.
    - throwawaygal7 5y ago
      I think the appeal of NYC is the cost and luxury of vacationing there. Even the skyline views - they're nice but I don't think they hold up to mountains. However, I grew up extremely rural so I am biased towards what I know and people like what they like.
      - occz 5y ago
        I don't think anyone goes on vacation in cities explicitly because they are more expensive - the appeal is that there's a lot of fun things you can do in cities.
        throwaway0a5e 5y ago
        A large part of tourism is being able to brag about where you went. The cost is just a side effect. You can see this more clearly in the hierarchy of non-urban tourist destinations. Cities like NYC and Paris have high baseline cost of doing business there. If the stuff that did cater to tourists didn't also have broad mass market appeal or other usefulness at those high price points (e.g. a hotel can serve business travelers as well) it would be priced out replaced with other stuff

yarnton99 5y ago

Just trying to find some positive examples of American small towns. As a European, if I were to relocate to the US, where would I find strong town communities? I know for example Ithaca, NY, might qualify. Other examples in the South, Midwest, etc? Also stroads are not just an American problem. I have found horrible stroads in places where you would never expect them such as Oxford or Copenhagen.

mitchdoogle 5y ago
There's tons of places similar to Ithaca all around the country
ehnto 5y ago
Mountain towns necessarily avoid the stroad/megalopolis layouts.
xxxtentachyon 5y ago
As you say, there are plenty in the Northeastern United States. I think the primary historical factors that separates cohesive, walkable towns in the US from more stereotypical American development are the city having been established and built out prior to the 20th century (so there was some initial plan or development that predates cars), and the community either being wealthy enough or remote enough to avoid the pull of cookie-cutter post-war redevelopment. Of the places I’m familiar with, I’d call out Delaware and Montgomery County, PA, much of the Hudson Valley in New York (Hudson, Beacon, Newburgh, …). Outside of the northeast, there are remote locations (i.e. outside of commuting distance from a major city) in the southwest that have clearly defined and stroad-less cores. I’m thinking specifically of Taos County, NM and much of southwestern CO. Ithaca is pushing into city territory (I think it has over 80k residents now), and if we’re going to count it, I’d also nominate small southeastern cities such as Savannah, Richmond, and St Augustine.
- dont__panic 5y ago
  As someone who grew up in the Northeast, I feel like there aren't very many walkable towns unless you're essentially in the Boston or NYC suburbs. So many towns in upstate NY, MA, and PA had their main streets turned into major thoroughfares for cars... which made them completely unwalkable and miserable to live near, eventually killing the town. Most of my relatives who live near "cute" downtown strips can't even walk to them because their towns haven't bothered to build sidewalks even in the moderately dense parts of town.

refurb 5y ago

This is so out of touch it's kind of offensive. Unlike you, most people struggle to make ends meet, are happy they have a job and can provide for their family. The upper-class "let's build architecture that inspires" screams "I have more money and time than I know what to do with". It's like looking down at people who eat at McDonald's (I got your reference!) with comments like "these folks wouldn't know good food if their life depended on it!". Sorry not everyone can be rich and have the same "refined" sense of taste that you do. But they're too stupid to know what's best for them, right?

mitchdoogle 5y ago
Poor people aren't building stroads. Cities and states are, and they do have the money to make them safer and more enjoyable for everyone.
jklinger410 5y ago
Hey, this is just a personal attack and has nothing to do with the topic of the post.
32kfjh23 5y ago
How does someone saying that things could be built better come off as high level elitism? I’ve stayed in small European towns where they have the cultural amenities of an American city perhaps five to six times its population. Normal people can live good, healthy lives there. Normal people struggling to survive while driving everywhere with few healthy options in sight is a manufactured issue.
- sien 5y ago
  When someone says : "Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesthetics." It completely comes over as high level elitism.
  - varjag 5y ago
    When someone objects to comparisons of taste, they insist that everythinn has essentially the same merit. Which is often hypocritical as they'd be rather found dead than with a lower back tattoo themselves.

labster 5y ago

Don’t believe this Imperial Tartarian propaganda. The stroad is the best road. Our urban architecture is the best ever. No one wants that old stuff any more, make it concrete and glass boxes arranged around a big ol’ stroad.

QuercusMax 5y ago
Just listen to it. Stroad! It sounds strong, regal, majestic! Rolls off the tongue like music, it does!
nraynaud 5y ago
and the weird comercial buildings that look "welcoming" on the road side but actually the entrance is in the back, towards the car park.

jdkee 5y ago

I would buy a NFT of a picture of a nice stroad.

jimnotgym 5y ago

I live in a mediaeval town. Outside of the mediaeval centre are rows of victorian terrace and town houses that grew up around a large railway junction, with warehouses, sidings etc right by the house. When I was young the railway yards had become small businesses, builders merchants, coal merchants, milk rounds, car repair garages etc. Over time they have mostly been turned into more housing and the businesses have moved to out of town 'industrial estates' or 'enterprise parks' where you need a car to get there. Many jobs have moved out there too, even professional service firms that used to fill the quaint offices of the mediaeval centre. The centre edges closer to being a museum every year, and the real commerce is spread out for car drivers around the boundary. On one route out of town the left hand side of the road is an early-mid 20th century parkway, with a grass strip before the street with the houses on it. The other side was little developed due to being a military reservist base. In the last 10 years they have developed it with no regard whatsoever with reflecting the parkway, and the result? Stroadification

goodpoint 5y ago

> Lets stop building ugly shit It's not just a matter of aesthetics. Stroads are incredibly dangerous.

zerocount 5y ago

I like those lower back tattoos, sitting above a nice looking ass. That's a party girl and who doesn't like to party? lol

akyoan 5y ago

European here: While I don't advocate for stroads, they do certainly look cool to "America lovers" all around the world. > Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art Nobody puts up little ugly streets of Milan as art either, but stroads in Vegas and LA are certainly photographed quite a bit. Edit: My comment is confirmed by a few comments just below https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29507951 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29507951

JacobDotVI 5y ago

> Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Yes, but in a different way than I believe your question implies. Edward Burtynsky produced an amazing series of photographs centered around the automobile and in his words, how it "represent[ed] not only freedom, but also something much more conflicted." https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/projects/photographs/oil One of the most internet famous images from that series is of a stroad in Breezewood, PA: https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/news-hub/2019/7/25/what-internet-memes-get-wrong-about-breezewood-pennsylvania https://www.edwardburtynsky.com/news-hub/2019/7/25/what-inte...

crispyambulance 5y ago
To be fair, Breezewood is in the middle of a mountain range. Alternative routes are much longer or involve going around the geography. As a result it gets A LOT of traffic going to/from DC-area, Philly, Pittsburgh. It's a pity that the only businesses that can cluster around there are just dull chains and yet another bleak HMS-Host-operated rest stop. If any of you are going through there and have time to get off the PA Turnpike for a while for a meal (or hotel stay), a nice choice would be Bedford PA. It's ~20 miles west of Breezewood. It's an cute old-timey mainstreet town that hasn't been ravaged by rustbelt depression. There are good restaurants there. The Omni Bedford Springs Resort is a nice hotel with a great spa.
aidenn0 5y ago
Breezewood is the way it is for historical reasons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezewood,_Pennsylvania#Unusual_I-70_alignment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breezewood,_Pennsylvania#Unusu...