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I think it’s natural for homeowners to be resistant to new builds in the same way office workers hated the move to cubicles. I was in the Midwest recently and

I think it’s natural for homeowners to be resistant to new builds in the same way office workers hated the move to cubicles. I was in the Midwest recently and it was wild to see a block of high density houses in the middle of farmland. Houses that look exactly the same, shoved onto tiny lots with little gap between them, and surrounded by miles of corn. These are obviously attractive to developers as they are maximized profit vehicles, but the downsides to everyone else are enormous. In my opinion, we need to build housing above stores, so communities can actually work. Build a town, not a subdivision. What’s the point of a $50k home if you have to spend two hours a day driving to make it work?

gilbetron 1y ago
For whatever reason, those houses get snapped up quick. I've lived in the midwest my whole life, and those cornfield subdivisions are hugely popular. I have a house near a small city, and I've had numerous friends and family ask me why I would live where I am rather than in one of the "much better subs". I don't think people quite wrap their head around the fact that the US population love their cars and their huge subdivisions. A massive percentage of the US have no desire for walkable cities. It is a bizarre alien thought to me, too, but it has become very clear to me.
- HankStallone 1y ago
  My place is actually rural, but there's one of those little cornfield subdivisions (I like that term) a few miles from me. I don't really get it either. I like living in the country, but they don't seem to, since they bring their town ways with them, landscaping their places to a T like they're competing with each other, calling the police on stray dogs, and stuff like that. They don't seem to live any differently than they did in town, so I guess it's about the presumably cheaper land and the distance from noise and crime that makes up for having to drive 20-30 miles to town for work and groceries.
aaronbaugher 1y ago
It's unlikely that the people in that rural subdivision are driving two hours a day for work. In the US Midwest, you're rarely more than 30 minutes from a town large enough to have some jobs. For instance, there's a town of 1100 near me that has a veterinarian, general store, post office, gas station, auto mechanic, school, a couple bank branches, and so on, which all employ people, some at pretty good salaries. And within ten miles of that town, there are a couple of those little blocks of suburb-looking houses like you describe. Or the people living in them might be retired, or work from home, or work on local farms. Whatever the case, they're not driving a long way for work.
gottorf 1y ago
> Build a town, not a subdivision. I would really love to see a billionaire tackle this. There's loads of empty, or nearly empty, space in this country. Heck, take over a town if you really want! Sink a few million dollars into kickstarting small-scale urbanism. I'm not usually much of a billionaire-hater, but today's lot for the most part seems to be uninspired, when it comes to projects like this.
- mingus88 1y ago
  I don’t think you’ll ever see a billionaire tackle this. To become a billionaire, you have to have a complete lack of empathy. This is why the only solution we see are maximized profit vehicles. The qualities that would make someone want to create a lovely place to live exclude them from making billions of dollars in the first place.
  - reducesuffering 1y ago
    Did you both not see the project that is trying to do exactly this in Solana County CA and has had immense criticism at it, far more than positive coverage... Damned if you do, damned if you don't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Forever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Forever
    - gottorf 1y ago
      Looks like it's stuck in the typical hell of environment impact reviews and local politicians seeing how many sinecures they can obtain through the project. I wish the project well and will follow up on it.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
  First institute a land value tax. If you have a regular property tax you are going to get speculators, and then eventually vacant lots This is part of the housing supply mystery. It's not very profitable to build housing when you are punished for building upwards and making good use of the land
nunez 1y ago
They were probably 50 mi or so away from a large city, which is within "commuting" distance.

gilbetron 1y ago

For whatever reason, those houses get snapped up quick. I've lived in the midwest my whole life, and those cornfield subdivisions are hugely popular. I have a house near a small city, and I've had numerous friends and family ask me why I would live where I am rather than in one of the "much better subs". I don't think people quite wrap their head around the fact that the US population love their cars and their huge subdivisions. A massive percentage of the US have no desire for walkable cities. It is a bizarre alien thought to me, too, but it has become very clear to me.

HankStallone 1y ago
My place is actually rural, but there's one of those little cornfield subdivisions (I like that term) a few miles from me. I don't really get it either. I like living in the country, but they don't seem to, since they bring their town ways with them, landscaping their places to a T like they're competing with each other, calling the police on stray dogs, and stuff like that. They don't seem to live any differently than they did in town, so I guess it's about the presumably cheaper land and the distance from noise and crime that makes up for having to drive 20-30 miles to town for work and groceries.

aaronbaugher 1y ago

It's unlikely that the people in that rural subdivision are driving two hours a day for work. In the US Midwest, you're rarely more than 30 minutes from a town large enough to have some jobs. For instance, there's a town of 1100 near me that has a veterinarian, general store, post office, gas station, auto mechanic, school, a couple bank branches, and so on, which all employ people, some at pretty good salaries. And within ten miles of that town, there are a couple of those little blocks of suburb-looking houses like you describe. Or the people living in them might be retired, or work from home, or work on local farms. Whatever the case, they're not driving a long way for work.

gottorf 1y ago

> Build a town, not a subdivision. I would really love to see a billionaire tackle this. There's loads of empty, or nearly empty, space in this country. Heck, take over a town if you really want! Sink a few million dollars into kickstarting small-scale urbanism. I'm not usually much of a billionaire-hater, but today's lot for the most part seems to be uninspired, when it comes to projects like this.

mingus88 1y ago
I don’t think you’ll ever see a billionaire tackle this. To become a billionaire, you have to have a complete lack of empathy. This is why the only solution we see are maximized profit vehicles. The qualities that would make someone want to create a lovely place to live exclude them from making billions of dollars in the first place.
- reducesuffering 1y ago
  Did you both not see the project that is trying to do exactly this in Solana County CA and has had immense criticism at it, far more than positive coverage... Damned if you do, damned if you don't https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Forever https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Forever
  - gottorf 1y ago
    Looks like it's stuck in the typical hell of environment impact reviews and local politicians seeing how many sinecures they can obtain through the project. I wish the project well and will follow up on it.
01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
First institute a land value tax. If you have a regular property tax you are going to get speculators, and then eventually vacant lots This is part of the housing supply mystery. It's not very profitable to build housing when you are punished for building upwards and making good use of the land

nunez 1y ago

They were probably 50 mi or so away from a large city, which is within "commuting" distance.