4 ms·

Based on this data I am seeing tens of millions of people who don't prefer where they live. It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood in most of the country

Based on this data I am seeing tens of millions of people who don't prefer where they live. It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood in most of the country.

pfannkuchen 3y ago
It is quite weird how few walkable neighborhoods exist. That and some other properties of modern USA life almost make it seem like someone is trying to prevent community formation. Who would have an incentive to do that?
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > Who would have an incentive to do that? People already live in their car-centric houses. Creating walkable cores means pitching folks who can park outside their favorite restaurant on walking from a parking lot. It's easier to sell the concept to new folks, who will live within walking or biking distance of the new core, than gaining buy-in from incumbents. That, in turn, creates the opposition we observe.
  - trilbyglens 3y ago
    Most Americans are sort of afraid of walking.
    - digging 3y ago
      Not afraid. Disgusted.
andsoitis 3y ago
> It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood in most of the country. What laws make it illegal to have walkable neighborhoods in the US?
- Eric_WVGG 3y ago
  zoning laws
- bretthoerner 3y ago
  Zoning laws.
- lantry 3y ago
  Zoning laws
- afavour 3y ago
  I might be wrong but the OP might be referring to ordinances forbidding the building of dense housing. Walkable neighborhoods require a certain level of density to be feasible (e.g. grocery store needs X potential customers within a ten minute walk or it's not going to be profitable) and a lot of towns disallow the building of apartment buildings instead of detached homes.
  - frumper 3y ago
    The grocery store doesn't have to have every customer walk to it for the homes around it to have people walk to it. There are plenty of homes near good shopping, schools and other services. If that's important to you then you can buy a home near them. Having dense housing doesn't mean anything about walkability. After all, you aren't walking to all of the other homes.
    - afavour 3y ago
      > The grocery store doesn't have to have every customer walk to it Depends how much space you’re dedicating to car parking. Once the grocery store has a giant parking lot it’s swallowed up a lot of land that could have been housing. The more the store depends on car traffic the bigger the parking lot. The bigger the parking lot the less housing it’ll have in proximity, the longer everyone will have to walk. A successful walkable neighborhood has to balance allocated space with thought.
RestlessMind 3y ago
And what is your read about number of people who prefer where they live? If two groups of people have contradictory desires, then elections are the best way to sort out the differences and reach a compromise. > It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood Big cities like NYC or Chicago are already walkable. > in most of the country. I am sure you can go build a walkable city in the middle of Nevada or Nebraska. Your problem is something else - nobody wants to go there yet so it is a bootstrapping problem. What you are essentially saying is "a lot of neighborhoods where the jobs are are controlled by NIMBYs and they are not letting us convert those to walkable areas"

Based on this data I am seeing tens of millions of people who don't prefer where they live. It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood in most of the country.

pfannkuchen 3y ago

It is quite weird how few walkable neighborhoods exist. That and some other properties of modern USA life almost make it seem like someone is trying to prevent community formation. Who would have an incentive to do that?

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> Who would have an incentive to do that? People already live in their car-centric houses. Creating walkable cores means pitching folks who can park outside their favorite restaurant on walking from a parking lot. It's easier to sell the concept to new folks, who will live within walking or biking distance of the new core, than gaining buy-in from incumbents. That, in turn, creates the opposition we observe.
- trilbyglens 3y ago
  Most Americans are sort of afraid of walking.
  - digging 3y ago
    Not afraid. Disgusted.

andsoitis 3y ago

> It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood in most of the country. What laws make it illegal to have walkable neighborhoods in the US?

Eric_WVGG 3y ago
zoning laws
bretthoerner 3y ago
Zoning laws.
lantry 3y ago
Zoning laws
afavour 3y ago
I might be wrong but the OP might be referring to ordinances forbidding the building of dense housing. Walkable neighborhoods require a certain level of density to be feasible (e.g. grocery store needs X potential customers within a ten minute walk or it's not going to be profitable) and a lot of towns disallow the building of apartment buildings instead of detached homes.
- frumper 3y ago
  The grocery store doesn't have to have every customer walk to it for the homes around it to have people walk to it. There are plenty of homes near good shopping, schools and other services. If that's important to you then you can buy a home near them. Having dense housing doesn't mean anything about walkability. After all, you aren't walking to all of the other homes.
  - afavour 3y ago
    > The grocery store doesn't have to have every customer walk to it Depends how much space you’re dedicating to car parking. Once the grocery store has a giant parking lot it’s swallowed up a lot of land that could have been housing. The more the store depends on car traffic the bigger the parking lot. The bigger the parking lot the less housing it’ll have in proximity, the longer everyone will have to walk. A successful walkable neighborhood has to balance allocated space with thought.

RestlessMind 3y ago

And what is your read about number of people who prefer where they live? If two groups of people have contradictory desires, then elections are the best way to sort out the differences and reach a compromise. > It's illegal to build a walkable neighborhood Big cities like NYC or Chicago are already walkable. > in most of the country. I am sure you can go build a walkable city in the middle of Nevada or Nebraska. Your problem is something else - nobody wants to go there yet so it is a bootstrapping problem. What you are essentially saying is "a lot of neighborhoods where the jobs are are controlled by NIMBYs and they are not letting us convert those to walkable areas"