9 ms·

A list of changes to make it easier to build beautiful and walkable places

152 points by cjbarber 1y ago

abraxas 1y ago
If I'm being honest, this list is really daunting. I had no idea that so much red tape stood between North America and pedestrian (i.e. human) friendly places.
- cjbarber 1y ago
  Indeed, kinda unfortunate! I was told by one of the people who helped that it varies quite a bit by state, this one is more indexed to California and a few others
- amelius 1y ago
  Every point on that list is going to generate so many objections that it will probably never take off. Therefore instead of making a list it is probably better to start a dialogue.
  - rafram 1y ago
    What makes you think that? The top 9 have all happened in New York City; most of them were pushed through by our current, fairly moderate mayor. They're not pipe dreams.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    I'm already imagining the idiots who's made regulation worship their religion coming out of the woodwork to screech about how setbacks and parking minimums are "written in blood"
  - wpm 1y ago
    The list does start the dialogue. Otherwise it's one side saying "coulds" and the otherside saying "is'" and there not being any movement on anything.
  - hombre_fatal 1y ago
    Most people aren't aware of the red tape. The decisions were made before they arrived and now they are seeing the results of it without knowing that the red tape is why things are the way they are. Like why can't they walk to a cafe. Why a bar needs 100 parking spaces. Why parking dominates their city. Why they can't find a small lot. Why they can't build up to the edges of their own lot. Why they can't find a small house. Why housing prices only increase. Most people don't realize that a place in Europe they might idealize is illegal to build in the US, and the closest they've experienced it in the US is walking around Disney World.
- harmmonica 1y ago
  Sounds like the author said this is indexed somewhat to California so thought I'd chime in. Your pessimism is legit, but some of the major ones are either already done or are in process in California and/or the city of Los Angeles in particular, which, although not the nimby capital of California, is pretty terrible as far as anti-change sentiment is concerned. Numbers 1, 3, 5, 8, and (sort of) 11 are either already done or are likely to happen. And those are some of the most meaningful ones on the list because importantly they a) don't require government funds to execute b) decrease the cost to build. Best way to make places beautiful and walkable is to put more people in them because then the demand and funds become available for some of the items that require material funding.
larrik 1y ago
"Here's what people said:" before the actual list was super annoying. > Allow single‑stair buildings up to 6 stories This seemed like a terrible suggestion, but it caused me to google it and now I see it's not that terrible. I didn't fully understand all of these, and some are clearly specific to California. I also worry about some of these opening the floodgates for greedy developers (a lot of existing laws are due to some developer doing something ridiculous, collapsing, and leaving the municipality holding the bag). Overall I like the direction, though.
- cjbarber 1y ago
  > "Here's what people said:" before the actual list was super annoying. Updated now
- ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
  "Greedy developers" is a signal someone doesn't know anything about real estate. It's up there with "late-stage capitalism" as a sure sign someone doesn't understand the subject matter.
  - larrik 1y ago
    Well, mother-in-law's developer collapsed in the middle of building their development, and managed to empty the escrow accounts using forgery and fraud on the way out the door. That's not really the same scale as what we're talking about here, so much, though. Being from Connecticut, this case comes to mind as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London Where a developer planned some huge build, forced people out of their homes via eminent domain, and then never actually broke ground at all. These companies shut down once they hit some snag and then pop up somewhere else under a different name.
    - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
      You named two developments vs the entirety of the modern physical world that you interact with every day. Edit: also you misrepresented one of the examples. The developer did NOT use the power of eminent domain. The elected officials of the City of New London used eminent domain.
foobarian 1y ago
Wow. Would love to see cities ranked by score against this list.
- cjbarber 1y ago
  Me too. Do you mean USA cities or worldwide? I'm told that some of the most walkable cities worldwide are: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Barcelona. Which other ones should be on there and which ones from USA? Devon also made this list: https://airtable.com/appcoaCeTbl22Few2/shrWJYzc04FQZIkP5 https://airtable.com/appcoaCeTbl22Few2/shrWJYzc04FQZIkP5
  - abraxas 1y ago
    I visited Amsterdam this summer. It's amazing, almost eerie how you get off the train at Cetraal station and you are greeted by a city that is nearly silent. Instead of the usual groan of the combustion engines you just hear the gentle sounds of bicycle chains all around you.
    - CalRobert 1y ago
      Utrecht is even better!
    - MITSardine 1y ago
      This has been my reaction in Oslo. I saw so few cars I thought they might be banned (but I don't think that's the case). Additionally, a great deal of cars in Norway are electric already. From what I can gather, 95+% (!!) of new cars bought in Norway are electric, and 30+% of cars as a whole. Combine the two and it feels like walking in the middle of a Covid lockdown.
    - rafram 1y ago
      > almost eerie how you get off the train at Cetraal station and you are greeted by a city that is nearly silent This was exactly my experience. Blew my mind. I walked down a street that was being repaved, so there were construction vehicles actively tearing up the road surface, and it was still quieter than an average block on a normal day in New York City. I think the lack of heavy HVAC equipment on every building helps too. Living in a mild climate has a lot of perks.
hexis 1y ago
These are all great, I love city life and would embrace every single item, but without addressing the dramatic decline in public safety in virtually all US cities, none of these will matter at all.
- iambateman 1y ago
  Can you source that fact? I'm seeing both violent and property crime as statistically way down over the few decades.
  - hexis 1y ago
    I would love to live wherever you live so that I could even imagine that this was not obvious to anyone who goes out into public spaces.
    - albedoa 1y ago
      To be clear, your response to the extremely reasonable request for a source of the wild claim that you made is "it's obvious"? Am I reading you correctly?
      - hexis 1y ago
        No, you are not reading me correctly.
    - iambateman 1y ago
      Come on down! Columbia SC is experiencing a bit of a renaissance…there’s growth all over the city and a lot of optimism. Life isn’t perfect, and we have serious problems like any other city, but I took my kids bike riding through downtown yesterday evening and felt safe.
      - hexis 1y ago
        I am glad you are enjoying it, but Columbia, SC has an extremely high murder rate, even for the US which in general has terribly high murder rates.
constantcrying 1y ago
Some additions: - No drug addicts - No homeless people - No drunks - If you throw your trash anywhere except the bin you get punished - If you shout into your phone you get punished - If you intentionally break or deface anything you get punished If your city is full of drug addicts and anti-social people not a single thing you are going to do about zoneing will make it more "walkable". This stuff is so completely delusional. People use cars to get away from the total dysfunction and danger of cities.
- bethekidyouwant 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - JoshTriplett 1y ago
    > Also, in the vein of this guy I think 21 is a bad idea Could you elaborate on that? I could speculate, but I'd love to know your reasons.
    - bethekidyouwant 1y ago
      No one uses the covered bus stops in my street because they’re full of homeless people slop? Once that shit gets rained on people have the heart to bin it.
    - petsfed 1y ago
      Not the parent, but weather resistant bus shelters take up a lot of space. So you're essentially trading sidewalk space for bus access.
  - lurk2 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - bethekidyouwant 1y ago
      [flagged]
patel011393 1y ago
This is a great start to an evidence database. The next step should be adding evidence and contextual details explaining why each claim is true, perhaps in a table. A good model is here: https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolk...
bix6 1y ago
My dream is for my section of my town to ban cars. It’s already heavy pedestrian but if the cars went away (and everyone had to walk or e-bike or mobility scooter in the zone) it would be a utopia. Sure there’d be some issues to address and frustrations but we’d figure it out. The net would be amazingly positive.
- genter 1y ago
  How would people be able to "express their personality" by removing their muffler or putting a two foot lift on their truck?
  - ndsipa_pomu 1y ago
    Unusual and inventive walking styles?
    - johannes1234321 1y ago
      https://youtu.be/iV2ViNJFZC8 https://youtu.be/iV2ViNJFZC8 (Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks)
  - lurk2 1y ago
    [flagged]
  - jplrssn 1y ago
    Walking around in platform shoes as a substitute for driving around in a lifted truck, maybe?
    - pavel_lishin 1y ago
      Yeah, but how do you modify platform shoes to hit children?
      - BobaFloutist 1y ago
        You can just kick the little shits whenever you want
_fat_santa 1y ago
I don't know why more municipalities don't jump on this. In my area (I live in the US) we have a number of neighborhoods that are very walk-able and they are consistently the most competitive areas for housing. In all the spots, homes are expensive and that's even if they make it on the market because hardly anyone wants to sell when they live in a place like this.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  Because it's not actually politically tractable. Pretty much every one of these proposals has some implied back side or quiet part you don't say out loud to it that the exact same people who like the sound of walkability in the abstract would be unwilling to make. Think about how many people who support this stuff would be screaming bloody murder if some developer bought their neighbor's lot and coordinated with some other local developers to submit all their proposals for the most hard to approve stuff right at thanksgiving to take advantage of all the sped up paperwork and limits on how long government can sit on things and then built right up to the sidewalk.
  - barbazoo 1y ago
    > Think about how many people who support this stuff would be screaming bloody murder if some developer bought their neighbor's lot and coordinated with some other local developers to submit all their proposals for the most hard to approve stuff right at thanksgiving to take advantage of all the sped up paperwork and limits on how long government can sit on things and then built right up to the sidewalk. Maybe show some of the negatives, your example as is doesn't sound that controversial.
  - wpm 1y ago
    Hi there, I support this stuff and would not care in the slightest if someone built right up to the sidewalk because literally, who gives a shit? All my favorite places have their buildings built right up to the sidewalk! ITS GOOD! I'm tired of pretending it's not! What are we afraid of? Oh no! There isn't a pointlessly small patch of astroturf out front? I would be happy that people are building on all of their available land because it is scarce and it makes the units bigger.
mikewarot 1y ago
My town has some people obsessed with "walkability" and the want to take the ONLY alternative to I 80/94/6/US 41 down to one lane each way... People will die if they get there way, as ambulance and fire vehicles become mired in congestion. Not to mention that the weather for walking is only present for about 20 days per year. Walking everywhere isn't a practical for most people in the Calumet Region of Indiana. There are reasonable sidewalks already present and crossing buttons on the lights where needed. I've actually used them on occasion. I don't see the need to push walkability further at the cost of everyone who passes through the area on the interstate.
- 1234letshaveatw 1y ago
  The "walkability" obsessed are becoming insufferable
  - marssaxman 1y ago
    After you've had a taste of life in a walkable neighborhood, it is really hard to go back.
    - 1234letshaveatw 1y ago
      It's much harder to give up having a large piece of property
      - marssaxman 1y ago
        What does the property do for you, I wonder, which makes it worth the maintenance? For me, moving to a townhouse was a genuine relief - no more yard work making unwelcome demands on my time! The old place was not a large property, though, just an ordinary suburban-style lot.
        1234letshaveatw 1y ago
        I'm sure I'll feel that way when I am retired
AChampaign 1y ago
The focus on ground-level retail as opposed to multi-story retail is a bit disappointing. This Substack post from Noah Smith does a really great job explaining why density for retail is also an important part of creating walkable neighborhoods: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/a-better-way-to-build-a-downtown https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/a-better-way-to-build-a-downto...
xnx 1y ago
Good list. By my count, 77% (27 of 35) of the items in the list are removing restrictions (many of them put there by urban planners).
- harmmonica 1y ago
  I upvoted you but I literally wanted to reply with "THIS!" because it's such an important point. There is no direct dollar cost to municipalities to doing many of these and many of them would actually save cities money (though I think the direct dollar savings are on the margins). Some of the externalities will have costs, many qualitative and/or subjective (how dare you take away my constitutional right to street parking!), but generally speaking if you went through the list and tried to quantify the externalized costs one by one you'd end up with massive dollar savings, or maybe better put many of the major external costs of enacting these would be voluntarily shouldered by the residents/businesses vs. the municipalities.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  >many of them put there by urban planners At the behest of the prior generation of shortsighted attempts to build a utopia. Not that this should be in any way construed as excusing industry fads at the expense of the public.
thegreatpeter 1y ago
Think about all the government jobs that would have to go away (because the regulation would be eliminated) by making these changes.
Animats 1y ago
About half of the items in that list are satisfied by Peter Cooper Village in NYC.[1] Go there and see if you like it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_Cooper_Village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_...
- mr3martinis 1y ago
  You could say the same thing about colonial Williamsburg. The list seems focused on removing restrictions and red tape. It doesn’t dictate form. You could still build a typical single family McMansion in an area that adopted this list… if that’s what you’re into.
  - Animats 1y ago
    Colonial Williamsburg is a theme park.
riffic 1y ago
You say "A list of changes" and all I'm seeing is "A pattern language". They're all able to be distilled into patterns (or antipatterns). Someone actually wrote a book on it.

152 points by cjbarber 1y ago

If I'm being honest, this list is really daunting. I had no idea that so much red tape stood between North America and pedestrian (i.e. human) friendly places.

cjbarber 1y ago
Indeed, kinda unfortunate! I was told by one of the people who helped that it varies quite a bit by state, this one is more indexed to California and a few others
amelius 1y ago
Every point on that list is going to generate so many objections that it will probably never take off. Therefore instead of making a list it is probably better to start a dialogue.
- rafram 1y ago
  What makes you think that? The top 9 have all happened in New York City; most of them were pushed through by our current, fairly moderate mayor. They're not pipe dreams.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  I'm already imagining the idiots who's made regulation worship their religion coming out of the woodwork to screech about how setbacks and parking minimums are "written in blood"
- wpm 1y ago
  The list does start the dialogue. Otherwise it's one side saying "coulds" and the otherside saying "is'" and there not being any movement on anything.
- hombre_fatal 1y ago
  Most people aren't aware of the red tape. The decisions were made before they arrived and now they are seeing the results of it without knowing that the red tape is why things are the way they are. Like why can't they walk to a cafe. Why a bar needs 100 parking spaces. Why parking dominates their city. Why they can't find a small lot. Why they can't build up to the edges of their own lot. Why they can't find a small house. Why housing prices only increase. Most people don't realize that a place in Europe they might idealize is illegal to build in the US, and the closest they've experienced it in the US is walking around Disney World.
harmmonica 1y ago
Sounds like the author said this is indexed somewhat to California so thought I'd chime in. Your pessimism is legit, but some of the major ones are either already done or are in process in California and/or the city of Los Angeles in particular, which, although not the nimby capital of California, is pretty terrible as far as anti-change sentiment is concerned. Numbers 1, 3, 5, 8, and (sort of) 11 are either already done or are likely to happen. And those are some of the most meaningful ones on the list because importantly they a) don't require government funds to execute b) decrease the cost to build. Best way to make places beautiful and walkable is to put more people in them because then the demand and funds become available for some of the items that require material funding.

larrik 1y ago

"Here's what people said:" before the actual list was super annoying. > Allow single‑stair buildings up to 6 stories This seemed like a terrible suggestion, but it caused me to google it and now I see it's not that terrible. I didn't fully understand all of these, and some are clearly specific to California. I also worry about some of these opening the floodgates for greedy developers (a lot of existing laws are due to some developer doing something ridiculous, collapsing, and leaving the municipality holding the bag). Overall I like the direction, though.

cjbarber 1y ago
> "Here's what people said:" before the actual list was super annoying. Updated now
ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
"Greedy developers" is a signal someone doesn't know anything about real estate. It's up there with "late-stage capitalism" as a sure sign someone doesn't understand the subject matter.
- larrik 1y ago
  Well, mother-in-law's developer collapsed in the middle of building their development, and managed to empty the escrow accounts using forgery and fraud on the way out the door. That's not really the same scale as what we're talking about here, so much, though. Being from Connecticut, this case comes to mind as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London Where a developer planned some huge build, forced people out of their homes via eminent domain, and then never actually broke ground at all. These companies shut down once they hit some snag and then pop up somewhere else under a different name.
  - ahmeneeroe-v2 1y ago
    You named two developments vs the entirety of the modern physical world that you interact with every day. Edit: also you misrepresented one of the examples. The developer did NOT use the power of eminent domain. The elected officials of the City of New London used eminent domain.

foobarian 1y ago

Wow. Would love to see cities ranked by score against this list.

cjbarber 1y ago
Me too. Do you mean USA cities or worldwide? I'm told that some of the most walkable cities worldwide are: Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Barcelona. Which other ones should be on there and which ones from USA? Devon also made this list: https://airtable.com/appcoaCeTbl22Few2/shrWJYzc04FQZIkP5 https://airtable.com/appcoaCeTbl22Few2/shrWJYzc04FQZIkP5
- abraxas 1y ago
  I visited Amsterdam this summer. It's amazing, almost eerie how you get off the train at Cetraal station and you are greeted by a city that is nearly silent. Instead of the usual groan of the combustion engines you just hear the gentle sounds of bicycle chains all around you.
  - CalRobert 1y ago
    Utrecht is even better!
  - MITSardine 1y ago
    This has been my reaction in Oslo. I saw so few cars I thought they might be banned (but I don't think that's the case). Additionally, a great deal of cars in Norway are electric already. From what I can gather, 95+% (!!) of new cars bought in Norway are electric, and 30+% of cars as a whole. Combine the two and it feels like walking in the middle of a Covid lockdown.
  - rafram 1y ago
    > almost eerie how you get off the train at Cetraal station and you are greeted by a city that is nearly silent This was exactly my experience. Blew my mind. I walked down a street that was being repaved, so there were construction vehicles actively tearing up the road surface, and it was still quieter than an average block on a normal day in New York City. I think the lack of heavy HVAC equipment on every building helps too. Living in a mild climate has a lot of perks.

hexis 1y ago

These are all great, I love city life and would embrace every single item, but without addressing the dramatic decline in public safety in virtually all US cities, none of these will matter at all.

iambateman 1y ago
Can you source that fact? I'm seeing both violent and property crime as statistically way down over the few decades.
- hexis 1y ago
  I would love to live wherever you live so that I could even imagine that this was not obvious to anyone who goes out into public spaces.
  - albedoa 1y ago
    To be clear, your response to the extremely reasonable request for a source of the wild claim that you made is "it's obvious"? Am I reading you correctly?
    - hexis 1y ago
      No, you are not reading me correctly.
  - iambateman 1y ago
    Come on down! Columbia SC is experiencing a bit of a renaissance…there’s growth all over the city and a lot of optimism. Life isn’t perfect, and we have serious problems like any other city, but I took my kids bike riding through downtown yesterday evening and felt safe.
    - hexis 1y ago
      I am glad you are enjoying it, but Columbia, SC has an extremely high murder rate, even for the US which in general has terribly high murder rates.

constantcrying 1y ago

Some additions: - No drug addicts - No homeless people - No drunks - If you throw your trash anywhere except the bin you get punished - If you shout into your phone you get punished - If you intentionally break or deface anything you get punished If your city is full of drug addicts and anti-social people not a single thing you are going to do about zoneing will make it more "walkable". This stuff is so completely delusional. People use cars to get away from the total dysfunction and danger of cities.

bethekidyouwant 1y ago
[flagged]
- JoshTriplett 1y ago
  > Also, in the vein of this guy I think 21 is a bad idea Could you elaborate on that? I could speculate, but I'd love to know your reasons.
  - bethekidyouwant 1y ago
    No one uses the covered bus stops in my street because they’re full of homeless people slop? Once that shit gets rained on people have the heart to bin it.
  - petsfed 1y ago
    Not the parent, but weather resistant bus shelters take up a lot of space. So you're essentially trading sidewalk space for bus access.
- lurk2 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - bethekidyouwant 1y ago
    [flagged]

patel011393 1y ago

This is a great start to an evidence database. The next step should be adding evidence and contextual details explaining why each claim is true, perhaps in a table. A good model is here: https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolkit https://www.college.police.uk/research/crime-reduction-toolk...

bix6 1y ago

My dream is for my section of my town to ban cars. It’s already heavy pedestrian but if the cars went away (and everyone had to walk or e-bike or mobility scooter in the zone) it would be a utopia. Sure there’d be some issues to address and frustrations but we’d figure it out. The net would be amazingly positive.

genter 1y ago
How would people be able to "express their personality" by removing their muffler or putting a two foot lift on their truck?
- ndsipa_pomu 1y ago
  Unusual and inventive walking styles?
  - johannes1234321 1y ago
    https://youtu.be/iV2ViNJFZC8 https://youtu.be/iV2ViNJFZC8 (Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks)
- lurk2 1y ago
  [flagged]
- jplrssn 1y ago
  Walking around in platform shoes as a substitute for driving around in a lifted truck, maybe?
  - pavel_lishin 1y ago
    Yeah, but how do you modify platform shoes to hit children?
    - BobaFloutist 1y ago
      You can just kick the little shits whenever you want

_fat_santa 1y ago

I don't know why more municipalities don't jump on this. In my area (I live in the US) we have a number of neighborhoods that are very walk-able and they are consistently the most competitive areas for housing. In all the spots, homes are expensive and that's even if they make it on the market because hardly anyone wants to sell when they live in a place like this.

potato3732842 1y ago
Because it's not actually politically tractable. Pretty much every one of these proposals has some implied back side or quiet part you don't say out loud to it that the exact same people who like the sound of walkability in the abstract would be unwilling to make. Think about how many people who support this stuff would be screaming bloody murder if some developer bought their neighbor's lot and coordinated with some other local developers to submit all their proposals for the most hard to approve stuff right at thanksgiving to take advantage of all the sped up paperwork and limits on how long government can sit on things and then built right up to the sidewalk.
- barbazoo 1y ago
  > Think about how many people who support this stuff would be screaming bloody murder if some developer bought their neighbor's lot and coordinated with some other local developers to submit all their proposals for the most hard to approve stuff right at thanksgiving to take advantage of all the sped up paperwork and limits on how long government can sit on things and then built right up to the sidewalk. Maybe show some of the negatives, your example as is doesn't sound that controversial.
- wpm 1y ago
  Hi there, I support this stuff and would not care in the slightest if someone built right up to the sidewalk because literally, who gives a shit? All my favorite places have their buildings built right up to the sidewalk! ITS GOOD! I'm tired of pretending it's not! What are we afraid of? Oh no! There isn't a pointlessly small patch of astroturf out front? I would be happy that people are building on all of their available land because it is scarce and it makes the units bigger.

mikewarot 1y ago

My town has some people obsessed with "walkability" and the want to take the ONLY alternative to I 80/94/6/US 41 down to one lane each way... People will die if they get there way, as ambulance and fire vehicles become mired in congestion. Not to mention that the weather for walking is only present for about 20 days per year. Walking everywhere isn't a practical for most people in the Calumet Region of Indiana. There are reasonable sidewalks already present and crossing buttons on the lights where needed. I've actually used them on occasion. I don't see the need to push walkability further at the cost of everyone who passes through the area on the interstate.

1234letshaveatw 1y ago
The "walkability" obsessed are becoming insufferable
- marssaxman 1y ago
  After you've had a taste of life in a walkable neighborhood, it is really hard to go back.
  - 1234letshaveatw 1y ago
    It's much harder to give up having a large piece of property
    - marssaxman 1y ago
      What does the property do for you, I wonder, which makes it worth the maintenance? For me, moving to a townhouse was a genuine relief - no more yard work making unwelcome demands on my time! The old place was not a large property, though, just an ordinary suburban-style lot.
      - 1234letshaveatw 1y ago
        I'm sure I'll feel that way when I am retired

AChampaign 1y ago

The focus on ground-level retail as opposed to multi-story retail is a bit disappointing. This Substack post from Noah Smith does a really great job explaining why density for retail is also an important part of creating walkable neighborhoods: https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/a-better-way-to-build-a-downtown https://www.noahpinion.blog/p/a-better-way-to-build-a-downto...

xnx 1y ago

Good list. By my count, 77% (27 of 35) of the items in the list are removing restrictions (many of them put there by urban planners).

harmmonica 1y ago
I upvoted you but I literally wanted to reply with "THIS!" because it's such an important point. There is no direct dollar cost to municipalities to doing many of these and many of them would actually save cities money (though I think the direct dollar savings are on the margins). Some of the externalities will have costs, many qualitative and/or subjective (how dare you take away my constitutional right to street parking!), but generally speaking if you went through the list and tried to quantify the externalized costs one by one you'd end up with massive dollar savings, or maybe better put many of the major external costs of enacting these would be voluntarily shouldered by the residents/businesses vs. the municipalities.
potato3732842 1y ago
>many of them put there by urban planners At the behest of the prior generation of shortsighted attempts to build a utopia. Not that this should be in any way construed as excusing industry fads at the expense of the public.

thegreatpeter 1y ago

Think about all the government jobs that would have to go away (because the regulation would be eliminated) by making these changes.

Animats 1y ago

About half of the items in that list are satisfied by Peter Cooper Village in NYC.[1] Go there and see if you like it. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_Cooper_Village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuyvesant_Town%E2%80%93Peter_...

mr3martinis 1y ago
You could say the same thing about colonial Williamsburg. The list seems focused on removing restrictions and red tape. It doesn’t dictate form. You could still build a typical single family McMansion in an area that adopted this list… if that’s what you’re into.
- Animats 1y ago
  Colonial Williamsburg is a theme park.

riffic 1y ago

You say "A list of changes" and all I'm seeing is "A pattern language". They're all able to be distilled into patterns (or antipatterns). Someone actually wrote a book on it.