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Exactly. Basically, Americans simply do not want walkable neighborhoods or cities. They want to have huge houses with garages and backyards they rarely use, a
by 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 agoEventually 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 agoIncreasingly "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 agoAmericans 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.