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> I feel that if you live in a city you either understand that it's going to be somewhat noisy or you'll go insane This is the perfect Rorschach test. I refus
by trgn 4y ago
> I feel that if you live in a city you either understand that it's going to be somewhat noisy or you'll go insane
This is the perfect Rorschach test.
I refuse to accept this premise, that a city is noisy by default. The city is noisy because we have allowed power tools to dominate (cars, motorcycles, sirenes, ACs, ...). Today is actually somewhat of an improvement, not that long ago the city had heavy industry too: saw mills, foundries, ...
But none of that is required. The aspirational city of the future will be the one of the pre-industrial age, but with good sanitation. It is the big galvanizing project of virtually every European city now; it is pushing out cars. It's a real reduction of overall noise, and just, less tangible, but also a real reduction of that low-key trashyness and sociopathy that just seems to seep in into every urban environment where cars dominate.
America is way behind, but it _will_ happen. The future of NYC for example will undoubtedly be one without cars for personal transport.
A downstream effect is, that as the city effectively becomes more quiet because power tools get pushed out, tolerance for noisy hobbies (like skateboarding) is decreasing as well.
- piva00 4y agoI live in Stockholm which is a very calm and quiet city. Still, it's noisy, simply by being a city, there is no way around that, you have thousands and thousands of people densely packed in a small area, it's bound to have noise even if it's the quietest "bigger" (1-2mil pop.) city I've ever been to.
- refurb 4y agoConsidering this thread has people complaining about skateboards, the clear answer is “people love cities but not all the people in them”. I love having access to an international airport, but hate the noisy planes. I love having local restaurants only a moments walk away but hate the late night loud chatter. I love all the walking and transit infrastructure but hate the construction noise. Sorry, but cities are just noisy, even absent cars, power tools. Either live with it or find somewhere else better suited.
- tremon 4y agoThis matches my thoughts very accurately, but I disagree with the position you take in your last sentence: yes, cities are inherently noisy. That doesn't mean we should excuse inconsiderate city dwellers who make the city even more noisy, whether because they don't know or because they don't care. My biggest complaints: in-car subwoofers and garden parties that run till deep in the night. Both caused by people that seem to think that just because they enjoy their music, the entire neighborhood should.
- mensetmanusman 4y agoTolerance for noise decreases as the median age increases. As NYC becomes very grey (having pushed out many families and due to collapsing demographics), it will be more like Singapore where technology is deployed to punish nuisance.
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago>Tolerance for noise decreases as the median age increases I think this is only true above a certain income threshold. You need to have paid away a bunch of other more pressing problems before you have spare fucks to give about the kind of noise other people are making (except in the most egregious cases).
- april_22 4y agoGood point. More and more cities are starting to punish noise with tech, some German cities want/are implementing no drive zones in city centers for certain car types. Good for noise reduction and environment.