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Reminds of Tokyo's "blocks". I don't know where to find the details but I went to small exhibit in Omotesando (a part of Tokyo) where they showed how much of To

Reminds of Tokyo's "blocks". I don't know where to find the details but I went to small exhibit in Omotesando (a part of Tokyo) where they showed how much of Tokyo is built where there are "large" (4-6 lane roads). The buildings on those roads are 8-15 stories tall. Behind the buildings on the main road are lots of side streets with small apartments buildings and single family homes. The 4-6 lane roads and the tall buildings are firewalls and were designed to prevent run away fires. I don't remember if this design was in response to 1923 fires or WW2 fire bombing. But, I did notice that I can except for a few spots (West Shinjuku, or Otemachi), I can be in a crazy popular famous busy part of town (Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku) and just a few steps off the main street it's suddenly quiet and pleasant. It wasn't until I saw the exhibit that I realized one of the reasons. Compare to much of SF, NYC, I almost never feel any moment of "peace and quiet" during the day at least.

Mountain_Skies 5y ago
That all fits in well with the hierarchical way of assigning addresses in Tokyo as opposed to the street name and number used in much of the western world. I wonder if the address scheme came first or the urban development pattern came first and the address scheme followed.
- Larrikin 5y ago
  Can you explain what you mean by the hierarchical way of assigning addresses? Every source I ever read and person I ever talked to that had even a slight guess was that chome were assigned in order of when they were constructed and there wasn't much rhyme or reason besides that. Discussing odd even numbering and city blocks going up by 100s and 1000s was one of the few things people thought was impressive about American infrastructure. Importance could make sense in that a first mover in Shibuya could get a prime chome but I'd still like more information.
  - Mountain_Skies 5y ago
    This explains it better than I can: https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/addresses-in-japan https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/addresses-in-japan In the US, addresses are typically in the form of nnnn Street Name. In some cities with a grid and a regular numbering scheme, if you're familiar with the scheme, you can get a sense of where in the city the address is located. In extreme cases like Salt Lake City, you're almost getting grid coordinates though if the address is a street within a block, some of that advantage goes away. But most cities have a haphazard naming and numbering scheme. Odd/Even for the side of the street is about the only thing you can somewhat rely on. Seeing the address 1905 Peachtree Street tells you nothing about where a building is located in Atlanta. Is that near 2205 Peachtree Street? What about 6823 Peachtree Road? Is that even the same street? Is the difference of 200 in address numbers a consistent distance in different parts of town? The address scheme in Tokyo gets you into a neighborhood though you will have to obtain local knowledge to find the building by number. You can walk up the hierarchy to get a general sense of how close two addresses are to each other, though nowhere near as exact as you would get from something like what is used in Manhattan (a relative rarity).
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
There are definitely areas of NYC that rapidly transition from bustle to relative peace and quiet.
- asiachick 5y ago
  It's not just that it's quiet. It's that 100 feet behind the 14 story building it feels like I'm no longer in the city. The buildings in the back are generally 2 stories tall with 1 car wide streets or 2 but no traffic on them. I probably can't convey the difference https://goo.gl/maps/2zM1LxF1J61BTB9n8 https://goo.gl/maps/2zM1LxF1J61BTB9n8 https://goo.gl/maps/3h842CfHt5BfbqQE7 https://goo.gl/maps/3h842CfHt5BfbqQE7

Mountain_Skies 5y ago

That all fits in well with the hierarchical way of assigning addresses in Tokyo as opposed to the street name and number used in much of the western world. I wonder if the address scheme came first or the urban development pattern came first and the address scheme followed.

Larrikin 5y ago
Can you explain what you mean by the hierarchical way of assigning addresses? Every source I ever read and person I ever talked to that had even a slight guess was that chome were assigned in order of when they were constructed and there wasn't much rhyme or reason besides that. Discussing odd even numbering and city blocks going up by 100s and 1000s was one of the few things people thought was impressive about American infrastructure. Importance could make sense in that a first mover in Shibuya could get a prime chome but I'd still like more information.
- Mountain_Skies 5y ago
  This explains it better than I can: https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/addresses-in-japan https://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/addresses-in-japan In the US, addresses are typically in the form of nnnn Street Name. In some cities with a grid and a regular numbering scheme, if you're familiar with the scheme, you can get a sense of where in the city the address is located. In extreme cases like Salt Lake City, you're almost getting grid coordinates though if the address is a street within a block, some of that advantage goes away. But most cities have a haphazard naming and numbering scheme. Odd/Even for the side of the street is about the only thing you can somewhat rely on. Seeing the address 1905 Peachtree Street tells you nothing about where a building is located in Atlanta. Is that near 2205 Peachtree Street? What about 6823 Peachtree Road? Is that even the same street? Is the difference of 200 in address numbers a consistent distance in different parts of town? The address scheme in Tokyo gets you into a neighborhood though you will have to obtain local knowledge to find the building by number. You can walk up the hierarchy to get a general sense of how close two addresses are to each other, though nowhere near as exact as you would get from something like what is used in Manhattan (a relative rarity).

kevin_thibedeau 5y ago

There are definitely areas of NYC that rapidly transition from bustle to relative peace and quiet.

asiachick 5y ago
It's not just that it's quiet. It's that 100 feet behind the 14 story building it feels like I'm no longer in the city. The buildings in the back are generally 2 stories tall with 1 car wide streets or 2 but no traffic on them. I probably can't convey the difference https://goo.gl/maps/2zM1LxF1J61BTB9n8 https://goo.gl/maps/2zM1LxF1J61BTB9n8 https://goo.gl/maps/3h842CfHt5BfbqQE7 https://goo.gl/maps/3h842CfHt5BfbqQE7