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Cars destroy walkability. City planners need to shift their mind from arterial expressways to moats that prevent cars from ever approaching city centers and ac

by munk-a 4y ago

Cars destroy walkability. City planners need to shift their mind from arterial expressways to moats that prevent cars from ever approaching city centers and actually provide alternative transit options that aren't crap. My partner and I had a day long layover in Dallas and trying to get anywhere in that city on foot felt futile even after we taxi'd into the middle of what I assume is downtown.

lotsofpulp 4y ago
Excessive distances between destinations destroys walkability, too. Which is a necessary condition for environments that can accommodate the quantity and size of most American cars. Edit: Excessive distances are also a necessary condition for living in an environment with detached 2.5k+ sq ft single family houses with garages and backyards.
- bluGill 4y ago
  Even their smallest European cars take up a lot of space
- midoridensha 4y ago
  Exactly. Basically, Americans simply do not want walkable neighborhoods or cities. They want to have huge houses with garages and backyards they rarely use, and they don't want to use municipal parks because "those people" might also use them. You can't have walkable cities when everyone is living in a huge, detached single-family house with a big yard. If it comes down to a choice between the dense, walkable cities of Europe and Asia, or the car-dominated suburban hellscape that is most of America, the vast majority of Americans are going to choose the latter. IMO, if you really want to live in a walkable city, the thing to do is simply move to one, rather than sitting around hoping the rest of Americans are going to change their opinions and their culture. This is most likely going to mean leaving America. It's exactly what I did, and walkability was one of the big reasons.
  - ericmay 4y ago
    Eventually Americans won’t really have that choice because they just won’t be able to afford it. But I do want to mention you can have a huge house with a backyard and garage. In fact the suburbs can be retrofitted to be more walkable - you just need businesses and such there. It’ll take a while but you can see the fragility of the car-only infrastructure coming to bear. Eventually it’ll just cost so much money to drive everywhere you’ll be begging to walk.
  - mjevans 4y ago
    Increasingly "those people" also make major American cities dangerous and disgusting (living on the street without an address, trash services, and often very real problems that got someone there) undesired destinations. A systemic problem needs a systemic solution. Not just a focus on livable spaces, but a serious __political__ reform and an approach that has the big picture in mind. The American Dream cannot survive when it's foundation has become a land-lord rent-seeking, do no actual work, income source that is predicated on renting the basic needs of life to those less well off. Historians might well compare at least the roots of some of the protests in recent years not just to civil rights and persecution about race (which is an easy thing to point to as a root cause) but also about classist divides between the wealthy rent-seekers, and those who are forced to rent.
  - TheCoelacanth 4y ago
    Americans do want walkable neighborhoods and cities. The evidence is that rents and housing prices are astronomically high in the areas that are walkable. They wouldn't be expensive if the demand wasn't so high.
bobthepanda 4y ago
Planners are not dictators, they’re bureaucrats. My understanding is that there are actually a fair amount of planners and engineers who like walkability, but that they fairly often get overriden by politicians. Local politician elections have fairly thin margins, and the most motivated voters and the most motivated NIMBYs tends to overlap.
- urbanhole 4y ago
  The majority of planners I’ve met are what you might call “urbanists”. They are generally limited by policy and politics to maintain the status quo, and are therefore frustrated. (Like, 5 people. This is not a study).
stjohnswarts 4y ago
I know people like to attack drivers and want them to quit driving, but if you want to walk maybe you should move instead? I mean you know what happens in cities, and what the dangers are, just like there are dangers to driving.
- munk-a 4y ago
  Oh, I'm doing both - I've left the US for Canada and will actually be doing some remote work in Spain shortly with any luck. I'm immensely excited! But... I'm a software developer and I have the financial freedom to jetset about - most people do not and the people unwalkable cities hurt the most are the working poor which Florida and Texas have a whole bunch of.

by munk-a 4y ago

lotsofpulp 4y ago

Excessive distances between destinations destroys walkability, too. Which is a necessary condition for environments that can accommodate the quantity and size of most American cars. Edit: Excessive distances are also a necessary condition for living in an environment with detached 2.5k+ sq ft single family houses with garages and backyards.

bluGill 4y ago
Even their smallest European cars take up a lot of space
midoridensha 4y ago
Exactly. Basically, Americans simply do not want walkable neighborhoods or cities. They want to have huge houses with garages and backyards they rarely use, and they don't want to use municipal parks because "those people" might also use them. You can't have walkable cities when everyone is living in a huge, detached single-family house with a big yard. If it comes down to a choice between the dense, walkable cities of Europe and Asia, or the car-dominated suburban hellscape that is most of America, the vast majority of Americans are going to choose the latter. IMO, if you really want to live in a walkable city, the thing to do is simply move to one, rather than sitting around hoping the rest of Americans are going to change their opinions and their culture. This is most likely going to mean leaving America. It's exactly what I did, and walkability was one of the big reasons.
- ericmay 4y ago
  Eventually Americans won’t really have that choice because they just won’t be able to afford it. But I do want to mention you can have a huge house with a backyard and garage. In fact the suburbs can be retrofitted to be more walkable - you just need businesses and such there. It’ll take a while but you can see the fragility of the car-only infrastructure coming to bear. Eventually it’ll just cost so much money to drive everywhere you’ll be begging to walk.
- mjevans 4y ago
  Increasingly "those people" also make major American cities dangerous and disgusting (living on the street without an address, trash services, and often very real problems that got someone there) undesired destinations. A systemic problem needs a systemic solution. Not just a focus on livable spaces, but a serious __political__ reform and an approach that has the big picture in mind. The American Dream cannot survive when it's foundation has become a land-lord rent-seeking, do no actual work, income source that is predicated on renting the basic needs of life to those less well off. Historians might well compare at least the roots of some of the protests in recent years not just to civil rights and persecution about race (which is an easy thing to point to as a root cause) but also about classist divides between the wealthy rent-seekers, and those who are forced to rent.
- TheCoelacanth 4y ago
  Americans do want walkable neighborhoods and cities. The evidence is that rents and housing prices are astronomically high in the areas that are walkable. They wouldn't be expensive if the demand wasn't so high.

bobthepanda 4y ago

Planners are not dictators, they’re bureaucrats. My understanding is that there are actually a fair amount of planners and engineers who like walkability, but that they fairly often get overriden by politicians. Local politician elections have fairly thin margins, and the most motivated voters and the most motivated NIMBYs tends to overlap.

urbanhole 4y ago
The majority of planners I’ve met are what you might call “urbanists”. They are generally limited by policy and politics to maintain the status quo, and are therefore frustrated. (Like, 5 people. This is not a study).

stjohnswarts 4y ago

I know people like to attack drivers and want them to quit driving, but if you want to walk maybe you should move instead? I mean you know what happens in cities, and what the dangers are, just like there are dangers to driving.

munk-a 4y ago
Oh, I'm doing both - I've left the US for Canada and will actually be doing some remote work in Spain shortly with any luck. I'm immensely excited! But... I'm a software developer and I have the financial freedom to jetset about - most people do not and the people unwalkable cities hurt the most are the working poor which Florida and Texas have a whole bunch of.