4 ms·

What about not having to hear your neighbors? What about not having to worry about your neighbors hearing you? Maybe you like listening to loud music at night.

What about not having to hear your neighbors? What about not having to worry about your neighbors hearing you? Maybe you like listening to loud music at night. Maybe you want a home theater. Maybe you want to play your piano/drum any time of the day. I think you're underestimating how nice it is to have space.

ericmay 4y ago
Everything you are talking about exists at least as much in the suburbs and then add in the constant mowing, leaf blowing, and weed eating to it too. > I think you're underestimating how nice it is to have space. This isn’t a trade we need to make. You can have space and be able to walk to things if we just build right. Take the suburb you live in now. Pick 5 houses randomly and turn those into some of the things the OP mentioned. Now you have your space and walkability. Throw in an apartment and some variations of housing so young and old and people with various incomes can live there too and there you have it. Now we’ve reduce car usage so you aren’t driving 5 miles in a 2,000 lb machine to get a loaf of bread and you still get to keep your car and your space.
- maximus-decimus 4y ago
  The person said they were living in an apartment and would never move to a house. What you're proposing (making 5 random houses into apartments), would probably still have most people living in apartments, so people wouldn't have the room. Also, I would like to point out people don't drive 5 miles to get a loaf of bread. They buy stuff for the whole week/month in one go, which you just can't do by foot.
  - ericmay 4y ago
    > The person said they were living in an apartment and would never move to a house. Yes and I’m keenly honing on on the benefits they highlighted and how those benefits don’t have to be unique to (as they are describing) a dense urban center with apartment only dwellers. Also the OP could just live in an apartment in a mixed-use, medium density neighborhood. They could be your neighbor even! > Also, I would like to point out people don't drive 5 miles to get a loaf of bread. Hey there! Yes it’s me. Fellow suburbanite for many years who can tell you first hand as a 100% fact that people do in fact drive distances like this for a single loaf of bread. You can to it for other items too. “Whoops forget sour cream for taco night”, “oh I’m going to make a beer run”, “better grab milk and eggs for that snow storm!”. Etc. > They buy stuff for the whole week/month in one go, which you just can't do by foot. You don’t need to do that and they likely do that (most make multiple trips) because you have to go drive a while to make it to the grocery store and deal with traffic. There’s nothing wrong with walking 10 minutes to grab a few things a few times/week. It’s better and healthier. You’re describing “how things are” and not using your imagination to understand how things could be. Saving this for last: > What you're proposing (making 5 random houses into apartments), would probably still have most people living in apartments I just told you that you can take an existing neighborhood and modify it by transforming a few houses so that they have different functions. This is only limited by zoning. Why in the world would that result in “most people living in apartments”? No apartments would be required!
ryan_lane 4y ago
Not the op, but in a similar situation to them. I can't hear my neighbors and they can't hear me. I can play music/watch TV pretty loudly and they won't be able to hear me. I'd have to throw a rager for anyone to even here a little noise. My building is reinforced concrete/steel construction. There's proper insulation. The issue in the US is that construction is poor. Construction of single family homes is actually considerably worse than apartments, but you have the benefit of distance. Better construction is the right answer here, rather than more sprawl.

ericmay 4y ago

Everything you are talking about exists at least as much in the suburbs and then add in the constant mowing, leaf blowing, and weed eating to it too. > I think you're underestimating how nice it is to have space. This isn’t a trade we need to make. You can have space and be able to walk to things if we just build right. Take the suburb you live in now. Pick 5 houses randomly and turn those into some of the things the OP mentioned. Now you have your space and walkability. Throw in an apartment and some variations of housing so young and old and people with various incomes can live there too and there you have it. Now we’ve reduce car usage so you aren’t driving 5 miles in a 2,000 lb machine to get a loaf of bread and you still get to keep your car and your space.

maximus-decimus 4y ago
The person said they were living in an apartment and would never move to a house. What you're proposing (making 5 random houses into apartments), would probably still have most people living in apartments, so people wouldn't have the room. Also, I would like to point out people don't drive 5 miles to get a loaf of bread. They buy stuff for the whole week/month in one go, which you just can't do by foot.
- ericmay 4y ago
  > The person said they were living in an apartment and would never move to a house. Yes and I’m keenly honing on on the benefits they highlighted and how those benefits don’t have to be unique to (as they are describing) a dense urban center with apartment only dwellers. Also the OP could just live in an apartment in a mixed-use, medium density neighborhood. They could be your neighbor even! > Also, I would like to point out people don't drive 5 miles to get a loaf of bread. Hey there! Yes it’s me. Fellow suburbanite for many years who can tell you first hand as a 100% fact that people do in fact drive distances like this for a single loaf of bread. You can to it for other items too. “Whoops forget sour cream for taco night”, “oh I’m going to make a beer run”, “better grab milk and eggs for that snow storm!”. Etc. > They buy stuff for the whole week/month in one go, which you just can't do by foot. You don’t need to do that and they likely do that (most make multiple trips) because you have to go drive a while to make it to the grocery store and deal with traffic. There’s nothing wrong with walking 10 minutes to grab a few things a few times/week. It’s better and healthier. You’re describing “how things are” and not using your imagination to understand how things could be. Saving this for last: > What you're proposing (making 5 random houses into apartments), would probably still have most people living in apartments I just told you that you can take an existing neighborhood and modify it by transforming a few houses so that they have different functions. This is only limited by zoning. Why in the world would that result in “most people living in apartments”? No apartments would be required!

ryan_lane 4y ago

Not the op, but in a similar situation to them. I can't hear my neighbors and they can't hear me. I can play music/watch TV pretty loudly and they won't be able to hear me. I'd have to throw a rager for anyone to even here a little noise. My building is reinforced concrete/steel construction. There's proper insulation. The issue in the US is that construction is poor. Construction of single family homes is actually considerably worse than apartments, but you have the benefit of distance. Better construction is the right answer here, rather than more sprawl.