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"Notable exception being Tokyo" The fact that the japanese in general have no children at all makes this notable exception not be one at all. Humans are not me

"Notable exception being Tokyo" The fact that the japanese in general have no children at all makes this notable exception not be one at all. Humans are not meant to live on top of one another. To me the correlation between fertility and urbanization is a clear sign that living on the burbs is a plus for quality of life and the perpetuation of the human race. Cars are just a necessary tool for being a human in 2023.

SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago
Heavily disagree with that humans aren’t meant to live on top of each other. We are a tribal species. We all slept together in caves, huddled under the same furs, building housing that expands to fit all our elderly and our young under the same roof. But we were also meant to roam, our toddlers literally run nonstop. We’re not built to yield to concrete paths bearing metal beasts. The issue is that our children cannot play tag wherever they please out in the open, under the watchful eye of a community to make sure Bob doesn’t pull Sally’s pigtails again. The community cannot keep an eye out for SUVs whose sightlines seemed design to hit children.
mdgrech23 3y ago
Living in sky scrapers sucks and is not enjoyable. Same with living in suburbia. The sweet spot is densely packed urban areas that are built on the human scale.
- lotsoweiners 3y ago
  Different strokes for different folks. I enjoy living in suburbia very much and densely packed urban areas give me nightmares.
- fsckboy 3y ago
  living in skyscrapers is no different than living in any apartment building, except the larger number of apartments with nice views. what modern skyscapers are doing wrong is putting in only large-footprint high-end retail (like department stores) on the street level, or nothing at all. A zoning change to require small retail stalls at the street level would go a long way to making cities more livable. And all those people living upstairs generate a lot of foot traffic to help all sorts of businesses thrive. (what I'm talking about overall is what makes midtown NY so unpleasant compared to other NYC neighborhoods)
  - Qwertious 3y ago
    >what modern skyscapers are doing wrong is ...is not mandating proper insulation/noise-proofing.
  - houseatrielah 3y ago
    It is different. if you are very high up there is too much wind for a balcony and you have no relationship with street life (people look like ants). 5-stories aka Paris-size is human scale, anything much taller isn't. The higher the floor, the less frequently people leave their building.
- dontlaugh 3y ago
  4 floors high blocks of flats with shops on the ground floor are such a nice compromise in cities. Eastern Europe gets this right.
- codedokode 3y ago
  > The sweet spot is densely packed urban areas that are built on the human scale. Near the subway, and surrounded by historical buildings and nice architecture ... where an apartment usually costs an exorbitant price.
  - alright2565 3y ago
    It's fascinating to me that folks see clear market signals like this and don't see it as an indication that we need to build more of it. It's not that it's very expensive to build (well, it's not cheap either), it's that there's so little supply and so much demand.
houseatrielah 3y ago
How an Average Family in Tokyo Can Buy a New (detacted single-family) Home (for about $300k in Tokyo Proper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w There's more urban dwelling options than just skyscraper. Low Japanese fertility appears to be a product of their work culture; you don't have time to go on dates if you leave the office at 10pm.

SamoyedFurFluff 3y ago

Heavily disagree with that humans aren’t meant to live on top of each other. We are a tribal species. We all slept together in caves, huddled under the same furs, building housing that expands to fit all our elderly and our young under the same roof. But we were also meant to roam, our toddlers literally run nonstop. We’re not built to yield to concrete paths bearing metal beasts. The issue is that our children cannot play tag wherever they please out in the open, under the watchful eye of a community to make sure Bob doesn’t pull Sally’s pigtails again. The community cannot keep an eye out for SUVs whose sightlines seemed design to hit children.

mdgrech23 3y ago

Living in sky scrapers sucks and is not enjoyable. Same with living in suburbia. The sweet spot is densely packed urban areas that are built on the human scale.

lotsoweiners 3y ago
Different strokes for different folks. I enjoy living in suburbia very much and densely packed urban areas give me nightmares.
fsckboy 3y ago
living in skyscrapers is no different than living in any apartment building, except the larger number of apartments with nice views. what modern skyscapers are doing wrong is putting in only large-footprint high-end retail (like department stores) on the street level, or nothing at all. A zoning change to require small retail stalls at the street level would go a long way to making cities more livable. And all those people living upstairs generate a lot of foot traffic to help all sorts of businesses thrive. (what I'm talking about overall is what makes midtown NY so unpleasant compared to other NYC neighborhoods)
- Qwertious 3y ago
  >what modern skyscapers are doing wrong is ...is not mandating proper insulation/noise-proofing.
- houseatrielah 3y ago
  It is different. if you are very high up there is too much wind for a balcony and you have no relationship with street life (people look like ants). 5-stories aka Paris-size is human scale, anything much taller isn't. The higher the floor, the less frequently people leave their building.
dontlaugh 3y ago
4 floors high blocks of flats with shops on the ground floor are such a nice compromise in cities. Eastern Europe gets this right.
codedokode 3y ago
> The sweet spot is densely packed urban areas that are built on the human scale. Near the subway, and surrounded by historical buildings and nice architecture ... where an apartment usually costs an exorbitant price.
- alright2565 3y ago
  It's fascinating to me that folks see clear market signals like this and don't see it as an indication that we need to build more of it. It's not that it's very expensive to build (well, it's not cheap either), it's that there's so little supply and so much demand.

houseatrielah 3y ago

How an Average Family in Tokyo Can Buy a New (detacted single-family) Home (for about $300k in Tokyo Proper) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGbC5j4pG9w There's more urban dwelling options than just skyscraper. Low Japanese fertility appears to be a product of their work culture; you don't have time to go on dates if you leave the office at 10pm.