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It's because the standard way we develop neighborhoods does not lend itself to people being able to leave their homes. My parents just bought a condo in a newer

It's because the standard way we develop neighborhoods does not lend itself to people being able to leave their homes. My parents just bought a condo in a newer development in a rapidly growing metro, and while they can walk around their complex, there's no sidewalks to anywhere else, and even if there were, the city zoning laws means there's no corner cafe, bakery, or small-scale store like there really ought to be. It's so stupid and such an easy thing to fix: just require that each adjacent complex have a right of way and sidewalks and zone for cottage businesses every few blocks. Makes everything more pleasant, and people have something to do when they leave their house without having to get into the car. EDIT: This [1] is the kind of neighborhood i'm talking about. Growing rapidly, cheap housing -- great, but they're setting themselves up for real heartbreak because the complexes don't connect. To walk to the park that's not even a mile away requires walking on a huge, busy road. All they need to have to make it not feel dangerous is a dirt path and a required gate between complexes. That's it. [2] I'm honestly not sure why we think this kind of development is even normal. Roads really ought to connect. It also makes the traffic so much worse. I live two miles from downtown Portland and my street outside my house gets significantly less traffic than my parents. I fully expect to move my parents somewhere near us as they age. It's just not possible for them to leave the house when they get older without having to drive, whereas older people in my grid-based, sidewalk neighborhood can walk for miles and achieve their entire life. [1] https://www.google.com/maps/place/Clark+County+Fairgrounds/@45.7484249,-122.6642113,3200m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x5495b281e73740e5:0xb3a2f97437960dd5!8m2!3d45.7465972!4d-122.6645667!16s%2Fg%2F1td04rzp?entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/place/Clark+County+Fairgrounds/@... [2] Meanwhile, our park is technically farther away (about a mile) and we walk there almost everyday and know all the neighbors down the street. We just went to a party at one of the neighbor's homes and the only relation we have is that we wave at each other as their kids play in the yard and mine ride their bikes to the park. I want to leave the house half the time because I have friends outside. That's all you need.

lr4444lr 2y ago
How long are people really supposed to hang out at a corner cafe, bakery, or store? Don't these businesses want turnover? Libraries, rec centers, churches, parks, dance halls, and bars are where people are expected to spend time. Also, although I see little direct of screen time in the full report, large TVs, huge customizable option set, everything streaming on-demand, online shopping, immersive games, addictive internet behavior, etc., it does suggest these are at play, and could account for the hour and forty minutes lost.
- anon291 2y ago
  What about hanging out in your front yard? Corner bakeries, cafes, etc give you a place to go with your friend, not necesarily a place to lounge (although some are okay with that too). Lots of people don't care and like the crowd because it makes it seem popular. Very common with little coffee shops. For our local shop, I know the owner and the family, and while I wouldn't presume to go in there and not order anything, I also doubt they'd really care if I didn't continuously order.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  > How long are people really supposed to hang out at a corner cafe, bakery, or store? Don't these businesses want turnover? Before modern Starbucks popularized a hostile environment, it was common to work for half a day in a coffee shop. They tended to be a lot bigger, have more and more comfortable furniture, and were fine if you quietly worked away and bought a coffee / snack every now and then. But Starbucks ~05 to now is basically a microcosm of the ways America went awry.
  - automatic6131 2y ago
    > it was common to work for half a day in a coffee shop. It was always unfair to expect a coffee shop to operate an office for the price of the profit margin on 3 coffees, a sandwich and a muffin.
    - Retric 2y ago
      Most coffee shops and restaurant were empty 3/4th of the day before people brought laptops you’d see people playing chess or reading books in these spaces. Laptops really mess with this business model because they don’t want to leave as they get busy.
      - autoexec 2y ago
        On the plus side, people who don't leave order multiple drinks and the overpriced food, people working tend to like keeping the caffeine buzz going, and for every customer who settles in with a laptop or a book there will be many more who take their coffee out or just use the drive thru and never step inside. The mix of customer types is what makes it possible to keep a coffee shop open.
somedude895 2y ago
The article has nothing to do with that. It's looking at the development over the past 19 years. This "car centric cities" criticism is beginning to get really old here on HN.
- anon291 2y ago
  Why is it getting old? I go out way more today living in a walkable area than I or my parents did growing up in the suburbs. It's just reality, and the data show that. There's also substantial differences in suburbs, and I don't think it has to do with 'car centric cities'. The suburb I grew up in was car centric but was still much better than the kids of developments i see today. Things are not black and white and exist on a spectrum. Being skeptical of modern subdivision-based development does not mean thinking everywhere needs to be Manhattan. It just means that we should think about adding a cafe, a park, a corner store, a library, etc, and adding things to make it easier when you don't have a car. I am not, and have never been anti-car. If you look through my post history, you'll even see me criticize attempts by various states to limit the sale of internal combustion engine cars. I own a car and drive it when I need to. I also walk and bike and scooter and wahtever
  - dingnuts 2y ago
    it's annoying because in many suburbs the problem isn't cars, it's just zoning! all of the problems described in the grandparent, like the lack of a dirt path between complexes, no small stores in the area -- these are ZONING problems, not car problems! we can keep our detached homes and cars and cozy suburbs and still have a convenience store in walking distance, I'm sure of it, if local zoning laws allow it but this subreddit, er I mean website, might as well be r/fuckcars whenever the topic arises
    - mertd 2y ago
      You are correct. Technically it is a zoning problem. But such zoning only became feasible after cars went mainstream. There are many self perpetuating elements of exclusionary zoning and car dependency.
Varriount 2y ago
This matches a number of the new apartment complexes in my area - no walking trails, amenities, or anything else accessible from the complex itself. Often you can't actually go to _anywhere_ from the complex, as the roads from it don't even have sidewalks.
- anon291 2y ago
  Yeah, so in my view, these sorts of developments became common in the 90s and 00s. The kids who grew up in them are going to have trouble socializing and not being lonely because to them, sitting at home all day is normal. They couldn't do anything else as kids. They had to remain inside. Unless mom or dad could drive them some place, they had no where to go.
- ethbr1 2y ago
  Another thing I've noticed is that older apartment complexes have more amenities than newer ones, albeit often unused / in disrepair. New apartment complex? Maybe a pool. Co-located commercial gym if you're fancy. Old apartment complex? Pool. Tennis and basketball courts. Rentable shared social pavilion. Parks and green space.
  - mysterydip 2y ago
    "but that's space we could be putting more apartments! who cares if they need a car to get anywhere, we rent more parking spaces that way." - apartment manager somewhere, probably
    - renewiltord 2y ago
      Flip the script a little if you really want to understand this. Play the role of a developer and go do some rudimentary math on what you can afford to build at what risk. Use ChatGPT to help you with the parts you don't understand. There's no moustache twirling. Location is the number one thing people want. If amenities made the cut and could be done, they'd be done. But after parking minimums, setbacks, and massing requirements you lose a lot of sq. ft., every bit of which you need to make the money work. Try it with a well-known locality since the laws for those are public enough to be scraped.
janalsncm 2y ago
I mentioned it elsewhere, but I wonder if these trends in staying home are also true in more walkable areas. Of course the ability to go out is a factor, but suburban sprawl is not a new trend in the US either.
- anon291 2y ago
  I think there's a been a substantial change in the kinds of suburban developments. I grew up in suburbia but it was still significantly more walkable than the sorts of developments I see today, especially in areas where housing is cheap and they're building a lot. My suburb growing up was grid based and you could bike to the grocery store. The part of Portland I live in is technically a suburb (started out that way, but eventually merged into the core). However, based off of historical records, the basic pattern of businesses has remained the same, so even when it was fully suburban, you could always walk to the park , coffee shop, bakery (some have even been here the full 100 years or so the neighborhood's been around). Whereas, due to zoning and HOAs, I just can't see where those would possibly develop in the example I gave above. It's illegal. I'm not an expert by any means, but I feel the pattern changed sometime in the 90s and aughts.
  - alamortsubite 2y ago
    Yes, the automobile enabled this change, though I think it happened earlier than you imagine (more like the 50s and 60s). Those older style suburbs are known as "streetcar suburbs" [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb
- TuringNYC 2y ago
  >> I mentioned it elsewhere, but I wonder if these trends in staying home are also true in more walkable areas. I think it depends on zoning and mandates. I used to live in Brooklyn on 4th Ave and it is super-walkable. However, numerous 12story buildings featured a parking garage as their ground-level facade, rather than cafes, offices, etc. This leads to an empty industrial feeling that makes people run away from such spaces. Here is are 3 examples: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6718516,-73.9875659,3a,75y,295.93h,83.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVDRp27kfZ7KbWUc_-2Hi0w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6718516,-73.9875659,3a,75y,2... https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6731304,-73.9863663,3a,75y,96.24h,96.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sq2gvTZpmYy8-tTh2d0miGA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6731304,-73.9863663,3a,75y,9... https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6726699,-73.9865002,3a,75y,196.39h,83.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss0Sk18RWdF46pDEkAwyMSw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6726699,-73.9865002,3a,75y,1... To be fair, many did have clinics or dentist offices also, but -- it would be nice to have places where people want to go -- gyms, cafes, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. In "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", Jacobs pushes for a variety -- and I can now truly appreciate that having lived in the above areas. The above areas may be walkable but dont attract people to walk there. They also become ghostly at night and people feel unsafe walking there. I could imagine the entire atmosphere changing with restaurants and cafes.
AtlasBarfed 2y ago
I think people are adopting a bunker mentality with a constant advertising and propaganda assault that the modern Brain is subjected to. Especially on the right, but also on the left, every fringe issue is framed as a grave threat to your existence. News media's long stoked the paranoia of whites as they enter a majority minority country of catastrophic fear of minorities. And the mobile phone was probably the tipping point of a typical human being's tolerance for digital intrusion and ubiquitous advertising. I honestly think the mental stability of the entire nation has started to go downhill since the introduction of social networking enhanced by mobiles. The statistics of adolescence and depression certainly back that up, and I think we'd be fools to think that adults are immune to it as well. In modern convenience-based shopping and services, coming from silicon valleys era of shut-in programmers producing apps that enable their shut-in lifestyle are the final aspect You know it really is amazing how Japan seems to be about 10 years ahead of the US in social responses to technology. The socially withdrawn otaku is the archetype of the end digital capitalism's ideal consumer.
hintymad 2y ago
> the city zoning laws means there's no corner cafe, bakery, or small-scale store like there really ought to be So basically we actively reject the lifestyle of European towns, or the life style of early 20th century of the US. I wonder why that is good for the city in any way.
- loa_in_ 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_in_the_United_States
dkga 2y ago
Indeed, this is a saddening development. Especially as people get older and need to interact with people they know socially on a frequent basis. This reminds me of one of the best cities I’ve ever been on, Brasília. Literally every block is build to be walkable as a small condo and have its own cottage businesses like the so-called “padarias” (Brazilian bakeries), grocers, etc. And all condos/blocks have some amenities like multi-sports court. A unique feature in Brazil (perhaps in all of Latin America) is that all buildings are walkable in the ground floor, meaning that it’s all open spaces and you can actually see kids playing in their building or region. Very lovely.
- philistine 2y ago
  We're building sprawling deserts of joy. Rising energy costs and changing mores could turn those metaphorical deserts literal as people would rather live close to city centres; there might not be someone to buy the house you thought was a surefire investment.
Yeul 2y ago
That's what happens when thanks to Henry Ford every middle class American could afford a car by 1940. It took Europeans another 30 years. (My brother lives in a 1926 apartment that is 10 minute walk from the beach. Although that privilege does come with a 460k price tag. Nobody had a car back then unless they were millionaires so the entire area was built with trams, bicycles and walking in mind).
- chrisco255 2y ago
  The Model T was released in 1908 and car culture had already overtaken the horse and buggy by 1926. Most households had at least one car by then.
- schlauerfox 2y ago
  Yeah, that was more a product of the collusion with oil companies to end public transportation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...
- The_Colonel 2y ago
  The car affordability can't explain it alone, since European cities/towns don't really suffer from these problems. Density is higher, sidewalks are everywhere and American style suburbs are quite rare. (OTOH there are other problems, many people live in tiny apartments)
carabiner 2y ago
Yet the proportion of people living in urban areas has grown to a massive degree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_Sta...
- reducesuffering 2y ago
  Because the terrible development OP was talking about is still considered "urban."
kalupa 2y ago
Please tell all the wahoos harping on about the conspiracy of “15 minute cities”
lazystar 2y ago
I grew up in Vancouver, WA, and while I had the same complaint that youre sharing here, it's possible that clark county is on the far end of the bell curve. I've lived in various cities and towns across king county for the last 15 years, and I've yet to come across a city with homes that are anywhere near as isolated as the ones in clark county.
HDThoreaun 2y ago
I was born and raised in Chicago, still live here, easily one of the most walkable places in the country. Most of the people I know spend most of their time at home. I think the two biggest causes are the loss of third places/religion and the ever expanding amount of content available on the internet. Theres just less and less reason to go outside every year.
xnx 2y ago
The purpose of many neighborhoods is to keep undesirables out.

lr4444lr 2y ago

How long are people really supposed to hang out at a corner cafe, bakery, or store? Don't these businesses want turnover? Libraries, rec centers, churches, parks, dance halls, and bars are where people are expected to spend time. Also, although I see little direct of screen time in the full report, large TVs, huge customizable option set, everything streaming on-demand, online shopping, immersive games, addictive internet behavior, etc., it does suggest these are at play, and could account for the hour and forty minutes lost.

anon291 2y ago
What about hanging out in your front yard? Corner bakeries, cafes, etc give you a place to go with your friend, not necesarily a place to lounge (although some are okay with that too). Lots of people don't care and like the crowd because it makes it seem popular. Very common with little coffee shops. For our local shop, I know the owner and the family, and while I wouldn't presume to go in there and not order anything, I also doubt they'd really care if I didn't continuously order.
ethbr1 2y ago
> How long are people really supposed to hang out at a corner cafe, bakery, or store? Don't these businesses want turnover? Before modern Starbucks popularized a hostile environment, it was common to work for half a day in a coffee shop. They tended to be a lot bigger, have more and more comfortable furniture, and were fine if you quietly worked away and bought a coffee / snack every now and then. But Starbucks ~05 to now is basically a microcosm of the ways America went awry.
- automatic6131 2y ago
  > it was common to work for half a day in a coffee shop. It was always unfair to expect a coffee shop to operate an office for the price of the profit margin on 3 coffees, a sandwich and a muffin.
  - Retric 2y ago
    Most coffee shops and restaurant were empty 3/4th of the day before people brought laptops you’d see people playing chess or reading books in these spaces. Laptops really mess with this business model because they don’t want to leave as they get busy.
    - autoexec 2y ago
      On the plus side, people who don't leave order multiple drinks and the overpriced food, people working tend to like keeping the caffeine buzz going, and for every customer who settles in with a laptop or a book there will be many more who take their coffee out or just use the drive thru and never step inside. The mix of customer types is what makes it possible to keep a coffee shop open.

somedude895 2y ago

The article has nothing to do with that. It's looking at the development over the past 19 years. This "car centric cities" criticism is beginning to get really old here on HN.

anon291 2y ago
Why is it getting old? I go out way more today living in a walkable area than I or my parents did growing up in the suburbs. It's just reality, and the data show that. There's also substantial differences in suburbs, and I don't think it has to do with 'car centric cities'. The suburb I grew up in was car centric but was still much better than the kids of developments i see today. Things are not black and white and exist on a spectrum. Being skeptical of modern subdivision-based development does not mean thinking everywhere needs to be Manhattan. It just means that we should think about adding a cafe, a park, a corner store, a library, etc, and adding things to make it easier when you don't have a car. I am not, and have never been anti-car. If you look through my post history, you'll even see me criticize attempts by various states to limit the sale of internal combustion engine cars. I own a car and drive it when I need to. I also walk and bike and scooter and wahtever
- dingnuts 2y ago
  it's annoying because in many suburbs the problem isn't cars, it's just zoning! all of the problems described in the grandparent, like the lack of a dirt path between complexes, no small stores in the area -- these are ZONING problems, not car problems! we can keep our detached homes and cars and cozy suburbs and still have a convenience store in walking distance, I'm sure of it, if local zoning laws allow it but this subreddit, er I mean website, might as well be r/fuckcars whenever the topic arises
  - mertd 2y ago
    You are correct. Technically it is a zoning problem. But such zoning only became feasible after cars went mainstream. There are many self perpetuating elements of exclusionary zoning and car dependency.

Varriount 2y ago

This matches a number of the new apartment complexes in my area - no walking trails, amenities, or anything else accessible from the complex itself. Often you can't actually go to _anywhere_ from the complex, as the roads from it don't even have sidewalks.

anon291 2y ago
Yeah, so in my view, these sorts of developments became common in the 90s and 00s. The kids who grew up in them are going to have trouble socializing and not being lonely because to them, sitting at home all day is normal. They couldn't do anything else as kids. They had to remain inside. Unless mom or dad could drive them some place, they had no where to go.
ethbr1 2y ago
Another thing I've noticed is that older apartment complexes have more amenities than newer ones, albeit often unused / in disrepair. New apartment complex? Maybe a pool. Co-located commercial gym if you're fancy. Old apartment complex? Pool. Tennis and basketball courts. Rentable shared social pavilion. Parks and green space.
- mysterydip 2y ago
  "but that's space we could be putting more apartments! who cares if they need a car to get anywhere, we rent more parking spaces that way." - apartment manager somewhere, probably
  - renewiltord 2y ago
    Flip the script a little if you really want to understand this. Play the role of a developer and go do some rudimentary math on what you can afford to build at what risk. Use ChatGPT to help you with the parts you don't understand. There's no moustache twirling. Location is the number one thing people want. If amenities made the cut and could be done, they'd be done. But after parking minimums, setbacks, and massing requirements you lose a lot of sq. ft., every bit of which you need to make the money work. Try it with a well-known locality since the laws for those are public enough to be scraped.

janalsncm 2y ago

I mentioned it elsewhere, but I wonder if these trends in staying home are also true in more walkable areas. Of course the ability to go out is a factor, but suburban sprawl is not a new trend in the US either.

anon291 2y ago
I think there's a been a substantial change in the kinds of suburban developments. I grew up in suburbia but it was still significantly more walkable than the sorts of developments I see today, especially in areas where housing is cheap and they're building a lot. My suburb growing up was grid based and you could bike to the grocery store. The part of Portland I live in is technically a suburb (started out that way, but eventually merged into the core). However, based off of historical records, the basic pattern of businesses has remained the same, so even when it was fully suburban, you could always walk to the park , coffee shop, bakery (some have even been here the full 100 years or so the neighborhood's been around). Whereas, due to zoning and HOAs, I just can't see where those would possibly develop in the example I gave above. It's illegal. I'm not an expert by any means, but I feel the pattern changed sometime in the 90s and aughts.
- alamortsubite 2y ago
  Yes, the automobile enabled this change, though I think it happened earlier than you imagine (more like the 50s and 60s). Those older style suburbs are known as "streetcar suburbs" [1]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetcar_suburb
TuringNYC 2y ago
>> I mentioned it elsewhere, but I wonder if these trends in staying home are also true in more walkable areas. I think it depends on zoning and mandates. I used to live in Brooklyn on 4th Ave and it is super-walkable. However, numerous 12story buildings featured a parking garage as their ground-level facade, rather than cafes, offices, etc. This leads to an empty industrial feeling that makes people run away from such spaces. Here is are 3 examples: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6718516,-73.9875659,3a,75y,295.93h,83.04t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVDRp27kfZ7KbWUc_-2Hi0w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6718516,-73.9875659,3a,75y,2... https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6731304,-73.9863663,3a,75y,96.24h,96.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sq2gvTZpmYy8-tTh2d0miGA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6731304,-73.9863663,3a,75y,9... https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6726699,-73.9865002,3a,75y,196.39h,83.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss0Sk18RWdF46pDEkAwyMSw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6726699,-73.9865002,3a,75y,1... To be fair, many did have clinics or dentist offices also, but -- it would be nice to have places where people want to go -- gyms, cafes, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. In "The Death and Life of Great American Cities", Jacobs pushes for a variety -- and I can now truly appreciate that having lived in the above areas. The above areas may be walkable but dont attract people to walk there. They also become ghostly at night and people feel unsafe walking there. I could imagine the entire atmosphere changing with restaurants and cafes.

AtlasBarfed 2y ago

I think people are adopting a bunker mentality with a constant advertising and propaganda assault that the modern Brain is subjected to. Especially on the right, but also on the left, every fringe issue is framed as a grave threat to your existence. News media's long stoked the paranoia of whites as they enter a majority minority country of catastrophic fear of minorities. And the mobile phone was probably the tipping point of a typical human being's tolerance for digital intrusion and ubiquitous advertising. I honestly think the mental stability of the entire nation has started to go downhill since the introduction of social networking enhanced by mobiles. The statistics of adolescence and depression certainly back that up, and I think we'd be fools to think that adults are immune to it as well. In modern convenience-based shopping and services, coming from silicon valleys era of shut-in programmers producing apps that enable their shut-in lifestyle are the final aspect You know it really is amazing how Japan seems to be about 10 years ahead of the US in social responses to technology. The socially withdrawn otaku is the archetype of the end digital capitalism's ideal consumer.

hintymad 2y ago

> the city zoning laws means there's no corner cafe, bakery, or small-scale store like there really ought to be So basically we actively reject the lifestyle of European towns, or the life style of early 20th century of the US. I wonder why that is good for the city in any way.

loa_in_ 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoning_in_the_United_States

dkga 2y ago

Indeed, this is a saddening development. Especially as people get older and need to interact with people they know socially on a frequent basis. This reminds me of one of the best cities I’ve ever been on, Brasília. Literally every block is build to be walkable as a small condo and have its own cottage businesses like the so-called “padarias” (Brazilian bakeries), grocers, etc. And all condos/blocks have some amenities like multi-sports court. A unique feature in Brazil (perhaps in all of Latin America) is that all buildings are walkable in the ground floor, meaning that it’s all open spaces and you can actually see kids playing in their building or region. Very lovely.

philistine 2y ago
We're building sprawling deserts of joy. Rising energy costs and changing mores could turn those metaphorical deserts literal as people would rather live close to city centres; there might not be someone to buy the house you thought was a surefire investment.

Yeul 2y ago

That's what happens when thanks to Henry Ford every middle class American could afford a car by 1940. It took Europeans another 30 years. (My brother lives in a 1926 apartment that is 10 minute walk from the beach. Although that privilege does come with a 460k price tag. Nobody had a car back then unless they were millionaires so the entire area was built with trams, bicycles and walking in mind).

chrisco255 2y ago
The Model T was released in 1908 and car culture had already overtaken the horse and buggy by 1926. Most households had at least one car by then.
schlauerfox 2y ago
Yeah, that was more a product of the collusion with oil companies to end public transportation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_consp...
The_Colonel 2y ago
The car affordability can't explain it alone, since European cities/towns don't really suffer from these problems. Density is higher, sidewalks are everywhere and American style suburbs are quite rare. (OTOH there are other problems, many people live in tiny apartments)

carabiner 2y ago

Yet the proportion of people living in urban areas has grown to a massive degree: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urbanization_in_the_United_Sta...

reducesuffering 2y ago
Because the terrible development OP was talking about is still considered "urban."

kalupa 2y ago

Please tell all the wahoos harping on about the conspiracy of “15 minute cities”

lazystar 2y ago

I grew up in Vancouver, WA, and while I had the same complaint that youre sharing here, it's possible that clark county is on the far end of the bell curve. I've lived in various cities and towns across king county for the last 15 years, and I've yet to come across a city with homes that are anywhere near as isolated as the ones in clark county.

HDThoreaun 2y ago

I was born and raised in Chicago, still live here, easily one of the most walkable places in the country. Most of the people I know spend most of their time at home. I think the two biggest causes are the loss of third places/religion and the ever expanding amount of content available on the internet. Theres just less and less reason to go outside every year.

xnx 2y ago

The purpose of many neighborhoods is to keep undesirables out.