4 ms·

Yeah no this is BS. Pretty much nothing already established got bulldozed save a scant few downtown highways. What happened is that growth got "planned" eithe

Yeah no this is BS. Pretty much nothing already established got bulldozed save a scant few downtown highways. What happened is that growth got "planned" either explicitly or implicitly via zoning and places like California and the Southeast that weren't really built up previously got built out in the form of this new sprawling system. Those who think they can city plan the utopia of tomorrow with "zoning but with different priorities than last time" would do well to learn the lessens therein.

lwansbrough 4y ago
https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1619450876002983937 https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1619450876002983937
- dsfyu404ed 4y ago
  You know, I almost hedged by initial comment by saying "except for the obvious exception of Detroit which got less dense as population of the entire metropolitan area fell off a cliff and never recovered". I should have known better than to leave an opening for types like you.
  - lwansbrough 4y ago
    Seems like you didn’t bother to actually read the thread. So doesn’t seem like you’re interested in engaging in good faith.
sunflowerfly 4y ago
At least in my area of Kansas City, and I believe many other cities, this is simply not true. Downtown Kansas City before WWII was similar to many European cities. It still has boulevards and parks, but it had 300 miles of electric street cars, row after row of mixed use business with housing above stores, and a train hub that carried passengers to about any town in the region. It was a vibrant city similar to European cities today. Under the guise of urban renewal after WW II, they literally bulldozed rows of downtown business' to install the interstate loop. The interstates chopped the neighborhoods apart making it nearly impossible to walk from one to another. They tore down about half the other buildings to accommodate parking for all the people that now lived in suburbs and drove in. They widened roads and shrunk sidewalks. They tore out most of the passenger train service and all of the street car lines. The effect was the downtown area of KC all but died, with many boarded up buildings. It became a place nobody wanted to live with a family. With several major infrastructure projects it is just now starting to come back. But it is still a far cry from what it was. It is still not that walkable. There is still little public transportation, with only one short street car line and one or two slow and clunky Amtrak trains a day. Most people still live in suburbs and drive in, so we have never deleted all the parking lots and rebuilt the buildings to make space for a vibrant business scene or ample housing.

lwansbrough 4y ago

https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1619450876002983937 https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1619450876002983937

dsfyu404ed 4y ago
You know, I almost hedged by initial comment by saying "except for the obvious exception of Detroit which got less dense as population of the entire metropolitan area fell off a cliff and never recovered". I should have known better than to leave an opening for types like you.
- lwansbrough 4y ago
  Seems like you didn’t bother to actually read the thread. So doesn’t seem like you’re interested in engaging in good faith.

sunflowerfly 4y ago

At least in my area of Kansas City, and I believe many other cities, this is simply not true. Downtown Kansas City before WWII was similar to many European cities. It still has boulevards and parks, but it had 300 miles of electric street cars, row after row of mixed use business with housing above stores, and a train hub that carried passengers to about any town in the region. It was a vibrant city similar to European cities today. Under the guise of urban renewal after WW II, they literally bulldozed rows of downtown business' to install the interstate loop. The interstates chopped the neighborhoods apart making it nearly impossible to walk from one to another. They tore down about half the other buildings to accommodate parking for all the people that now lived in suburbs and drove in. They widened roads and shrunk sidewalks. They tore out most of the passenger train service and all of the street car lines. The effect was the downtown area of KC all but died, with many boarded up buildings. It became a place nobody wanted to live with a family. With several major infrastructure projects it is just now starting to come back. But it is still a far cry from what it was. It is still not that walkable. There is still little public transportation, with only one short street car line and one or two slow and clunky Amtrak trains a day. Most people still live in suburbs and drive in, so we have never deleted all the parking lots and rebuilt the buildings to make space for a vibrant business scene or ample housing.