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> Humane cities are a matter of choice The choice to have founded your city a thousand years before the invention of the automobile, maybe. Many European citi
by prottog 4y ago
> Humane cities are a matter of choice
The choice to have founded your city a thousand years before the invention of the automobile, maybe.
Many European cities that were rebuilt after destruction during WW2 were built in a more automobile-centric manner, because people enjoy cars.
Honestly, I would like to see someone start a new city in the US around the concept of walkability. There's so much empty land in this country, and with remote jobs there's less of a need to place a city next to existing employment centers. It would be an interesting experiment, if nothing else.
- socialismisok 4y agoYou know that we took our cities and ripped them apart to install stroads and highways, right? That the historical model of American cities was train based, spreading radially out from a port with folks riding trains into work? And we threw that away in favor of cats relatively recently? We can choose to upzone and convert large road corridors into rail plus some road and convert some roads to bus rapid transit and some to bikes. It's an eminently solvable problem and one that has been solved over and over again in the modern era.
- prottog 4y ago> We can choose to upzone You'll hear no arguments from me. Even the biggest cities in this country are laughably low density. > convert some roads to bus rapid transit and some to bikes I don't know, I used to live in one of those big cities that had an awful commute by car, with congested roads and expensive parking when you could even find one. Solo drivers still comprised the plurality of commuters, and that number only went up during my time there, despite many efforts at improving public transit. People just don't like public transit for some reason, even when the alternative is pretty shitty. I don't imagine that it's gotten any more popular in this year, with higher rates of crime and other antisocial behavior on public transit around the country. > one that has been solved over and over again in the modern era Are there really good examples of cities anywhere around the world that were previously automobile-centric that became public transit-centric?
- socialismisok 4y agoI'm of the opinion that people don't like public transit because we half fund it. So they look at it and are like, "no, why would I want more like that?" But like, a cleaner, faster, more frequent, less crowded transit? Yes please! Cities like Oslo, Philadelphia, Boulder, and Seattle are experiencing huge transit changes right now and seeing major increases in bike and transit ridership. Boulder, in particular, dramatically reduced single occupancy transportation.
- Tade0 4y agoMore frequent is usually quite the problem because while the vehicles are just a matter of cost, the staff isn't. Driving any large vehicle is a stressful job and there's always a shortage of people willing to do it. Of course this implies that the larger the vehicle the better, so rail comes to mind, but that it turn requires infrastructure. Overall it's a hard problem to solve. Then how did the Europeans manage to do it? They had to. There's literally no other option for a region that doesn't have abundant oil resources.
- midoridensha 4y ago>That the historical model of American cities was train based, spreading radially out from a port with folks riding trains into work? And we threw that away in favor of cats relatively recently? This is quite false, unfortunately. It seems like cats have fallen out of favor in America, and now everyone is getting a dog.
- socialismisok 4y agoHahaha, curse typing on my phone!
- readthenotes1 4y agoI thought it was an intentional metaphor, coming from the "herding cats" line of thought.