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A utopic solution would be to learn, at last, how to have a thriving economy without increasing megalopolis. Housing prices are unaffordable in big cities, whi
by pif 2y ago
A utopic solution would be to learn, at last, how to have a thriving economy without increasing megalopolis.
Housing prices are unaffordable in big cities, while abandoned properties are rotting in the countryside everywhere. It's time we start spreading the economy rather than concentrating the people.
- gloryjulio 2y agoNot let the city to hijack the companies to force rto is a good start. I estimate that lots of the companirs didn't really care that much about rto but the cities are forcing their hands because of their commercial buildings and real estates depends on them
- nightski 2y agoThis comment will not go over well on HN but I am in full agreement. I am actually extremely disappointed as I thought tech would enable a more dispersed society. Instead we received the opposite.
- NoGravitas 2y agoInfotech will let you work anywhere, but you still need fixed infrastructure that is only possible to efficiently provide in a centralized way. Even suburbs are a net economic drain given their infrastructure costs, never mind dispersed rural living.
- nightski 2y agoThere's nothing efficient about big cities. Hours of commuting by millions of people every day. Tons of excess and waste. You become disconnected from the source of your food which has to be shipped in. Technology is a lot more than InfoTech. It includes core engineering and infrastructure.
- Sohcahtoa82 2y ago> There's nothing efficient about big cities. Hours of commuting by millions of people every day. You have it backwards. Density makes mass transit feasible. You want to talk about commute times, spreading everyone out is going to magnify that. Cities are efficient. At least, they can be. Busses and trains/subways work a hell of a lot better in urban cores than suburbs, and are effectively worthless from an efficient standpoint for moving individual people in a rural environment.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- nightski 2y agoYou seem to think that if you spread everyone out, they all need to commute back to the same place. That's not true at all however. With small cities/large towns I don't need to commute to "the big city" because the small city has all I need. My work, food, etc.. is less than a 5 minute drive away. Instead of ultra dense miserable housing, huge commute times, etc... we now have a much simpler lifestyle. It's moving the need for everyone to commute (via mass transit or w/e) to just a much smaller amount of shipping to happen between cities to move goods.
- cagenut 2y agocompletely the opposite we artificially subsidized sprawl for generations. leading to a periphery of, as you say, rotting/abandoned countryside homes, because the economic activity generated by people living that spread out does not cover the cost of modern standard of living infrastructure over that distance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG1T03NuZKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gG1T03NuZKM cities are expensive because they do have the economic network effects of people in proximity, they are simply where the money is, combined with restrictions on building new units. continuing to pour good money after bad down the sprawl money pit will only make things worse. the only way out is up.
- anthonypasq 2y agocities are fundamentally more efficient and just a natural byproduct of the way capitalism allocates money and people.
- csomar 2y agoAnd you are basing this on what evidence. Cities spread disease either infectious or by pollution. If a job can be done remotely, the company should not only allow it but it should be the only way to do it. Many jobs can be done remotely today and this will move annex jobs with them. Cities will remain central hubs but this will reduce the pressure and demand.
- B56c 2y agoSee cagenut's comment above. Cities are economically robust because they have the economic activity to justify the infrastructure investments. You can have much more rural, spread out areas, but they can't afford to support many of the amenities that modern people would consider necessities, especially tech workers.
- csomar 2y agoAnd what are these amenities? Because I am typing this from a rural area that has decent food, good medical options nearby and high speed internet as well as I can get a cheap bus to nearby places.
- B56c 2y agoI'm talking about stuff like paved roads to your door, free paved parking lots, and connections to the city's sewer system and electrical grid. We expect the city to pay for maintaining these things, but the taxable economic activity in suburban/rural areas isn't enough to cover these liabilities in the long-term.