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The lesson I'm taking away from this is if the U.S. wanted to support its increasing senior population and improve the loneliness epidemic [1] _and_ obesity epi

The lesson I'm taking away from this is if the U.S. wanted to support its increasing senior population and improve the loneliness epidemic [1] _and_ obesity epidemic, buying up malls and retrofitting them into public community spaces would be a huge step in the right direction. [1] https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/loneliness-an-epidemic/ https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2018/loneliness-an-epidem...

micromacrofoot 4y ago
or we could build our cities and towns so they are pleasant to walk around in!!!
- codemonkey-zeta 4y ago
  A fantastic group in this space is strongtowns (.org). The essays on their site have really opened my eyes to the particularities of American infrastructure which make life in those places ... suboptimal. I'm particularly fond of the "stroads" essay https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/10/30/the-stroad https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/10/30/the-stroad, and share the term with people IRL, who also seen tickled by it.
- starkd 4y ago
  Most of them were pleasant to walk around in at one time!!!
  - iso1631 4y ago
    Certainly not in the days of the horse and cart
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
phil21 4y ago
Very mixed feelings about this sort of thing. On one hand, it's practical and seems to immediately offer a minor amount of relief for a very small number of people. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good and all that. On the other hand, the urban design that caused the social fabric of the country to fall apart will remain, causing the problem to continue unabated. You need to fix this before the people get old to have any meaningful wider impact on the population. Seems like some form of surface-level McCivics vs. actually building up lasting civic institutions that can endure and strengthen the community throughout all life phases.
- starkd 4y ago
  Building up lasting institutions is only going to happen from the ground up, starting at the local level. I tend to doubt it can successfully be imposed from the top down - especially not by the government.
  - hedora 4y ago
    What about the national parks service?
    - starkd 4y ago
      Not really a "civic institution". that's a governement agency.
  - micromacrofoot 4y ago
    maybe not the federal government, but states could do it - eliminating single-family zoning, for example
feet 4y ago
We could even turn malls into arcologies, walkable and highly social housing and amenities
- newaccount2021 4y ago

micromacrofoot 4y ago

or we could build our cities and towns so they are pleasant to walk around in!!!

codemonkey-zeta 4y ago
A fantastic group in this space is strongtowns (.org). The essays on their site have really opened my eyes to the particularities of American infrastructure which make life in those places ... suboptimal. I'm particularly fond of the "stroads" essay https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/10/30/the-stroad https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2017/10/30/the-stroad, and share the term with people IRL, who also seen tickled by it.
starkd 4y ago
Most of them were pleasant to walk around in at one time!!!
- iso1631 4y ago
  Certainly not in the days of the horse and cart
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

phil21 4y ago

Very mixed feelings about this sort of thing. On one hand, it's practical and seems to immediately offer a minor amount of relief for a very small number of people. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good and all that. On the other hand, the urban design that caused the social fabric of the country to fall apart will remain, causing the problem to continue unabated. You need to fix this before the people get old to have any meaningful wider impact on the population. Seems like some form of surface-level McCivics vs. actually building up lasting civic institutions that can endure and strengthen the community throughout all life phases.

starkd 4y ago
Building up lasting institutions is only going to happen from the ground up, starting at the local level. I tend to doubt it can successfully be imposed from the top down - especially not by the government.
- hedora 4y ago
  What about the national parks service?
  - starkd 4y ago
    Not really a "civic institution". that's a governement agency.
- micromacrofoot 4y ago
  maybe not the federal government, but states could do it - eliminating single-family zoning, for example

feet 4y ago

We could even turn malls into arcologies, walkable and highly social housing and amenities

newaccount2021 4y ago