4 ms·

It seems there is a misconception I see here more often. For daily shopping, you can stay in your neighbourhood. Every neighbourhood of 10,000 people has a supe

by mpol 5y ago

It seems there is a misconception I see here more often. For daily shopping, you can stay in your neighbourhood. Every neighbourhood of 10,000 people has a supermarket and some additional shops. Many primary schools as well. Going to the inner city of Utrecht would be for bigger shopping, like clothes or anything. And have a drink or go out for dinner. Often you can go by bicycle from your neighbourhood or by bus. If you want to go by car you can park close by for a small amount of money (yes, small, people like complaining :) ) or park more on the edge of the city centre and go for a walk towards it. The city centre hardly has supermarkets, the real estate is too expensive and there is no free parking.

Vinnl 5y ago
> The city centre hardly has supermarkets As far as I can see there are lots of supermarkets in the city centre of Utrecht though: https://www.qwant.com/maps/places/?type=supermarket#map=14.34/52.0907305/5.1207394 https://www.qwant.com/maps/places/?type=supermarket#map=14.3... I wouldn't go there by car probably, but I do most of my groceries by bike or walking anyway.
zppln 5y ago
Sure, but I don't see how that has anything to do with what I wrote. I'm sure Utrecht have found a good balance. My point was about smaller cities adopting the same kind of ideas (removing parking space, closing roads to cars), where people can just choose to drive the cars they already own elsewhere. I've seen this happening to my old hometown, where commerce is increasingly moving to the city outskirts. Which ironically results in people living in the centers having to either get cars themselves if they don't own one, or use public transport to get there.
- mpol 5y ago
  Could it be you wrote about this some weeks ago? It seems Sweden didn't really copy Dutch planning. We do have some furniture boulevards on the edge of cities, also other bigger stores, like hardware stores and IKEA. But supermarkets are in the neighbourhoods where people live. And regular shops are in the city centers, clothing, electronics, warehouses, eye glasses, etc. Combined with bars, lunchrooms and restaurants and also historic buildings, inner centers are great to spend an afternoon or evening with good company.

by mpol 5y ago

Vinnl 5y ago

> The city centre hardly has supermarkets As far as I can see there are lots of supermarkets in the city centre of Utrecht though: https://www.qwant.com/maps/places/?type=supermarket#map=14.34/52.0907305/5.1207394 https://www.qwant.com/maps/places/?type=supermarket#map=14.3... I wouldn't go there by car probably, but I do most of my groceries by bike or walking anyway.

zppln 5y ago

Sure, but I don't see how that has anything to do with what I wrote. I'm sure Utrecht have found a good balance. My point was about smaller cities adopting the same kind of ideas (removing parking space, closing roads to cars), where people can just choose to drive the cars they already own elsewhere. I've seen this happening to my old hometown, where commerce is increasingly moving to the city outskirts. Which ironically results in people living in the centers having to either get cars themselves if they don't own one, or use public transport to get there.

mpol 5y ago
Could it be you wrote about this some weeks ago? It seems Sweden didn't really copy Dutch planning. We do have some furniture boulevards on the edge of cities, also other bigger stores, like hardware stores and IKEA. But supermarkets are in the neighbourhoods where people live. And regular shops are in the city centers, clothing, electronics, warehouses, eye glasses, etc. Combined with bars, lunchrooms and restaurants and also historic buildings, inner centers are great to spend an afternoon or evening with good company.