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While I love Shoup's work, I'm not enthusiastic about Glaeser's work. In particular, I observe that Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, and Mexico City organize people at
by WildUtah 13y ago
While I love Shoup's work, I'm not enthusiastic about Glaeser's work.
In particular, I observe that Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, and Mexico City organize people at adequate density to obtain all Glaeser's benefits without much of his beloved skyscrapers. Because of the shadows, streets, elevator columns, and infrastructure that skyscrapers need, they don't add much to urban life. A comfortable 15k/km^2 density (like Tokyo or Mexico City, half the density of Paris) is plenty enough to promote transit and network effects and build diverse and concentrated arts and business districts without concentrating them in only one part of town. That density is comfortably achieved with median two and three story buildings and plenty of open space in Mexico City and mostly short free standing homes in Tokyo.
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoSimilarly when I lived in Silicon Valley (San Jose/Santa Clara/Sunnyvale anyway) it was all 3-storey buildings and some open space. They razed the last orchard while I lived there; immediately taller buildings started going up. I foresee skyscraper clusters in their future.
- sien 13y agoYou make a good point but Tokyo should not be on your list of cities without many skyscrapers. It has the 5th most skyscrapers of any city in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_with_the_most_skyscrapers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_with_the_most_sk... (Sorry, added the 'not', which interestingly people worked out)
- WildUtah 13y agoWell, in proportion. Tokyo has almost double the population of the world's second largest city, too. The proportion of all interior space in Tokyo above the 20th story of buildings is infinitesimal.
- jpatokal 13y agoThat's mostly just because Tokyo is so immense: Greater Tokyo is the world's largest city on most measures. However, the skyscrapers are concentrated in a couple of districts, and the vast majority of the city is indeed low-rise (under 10 stories or so even in the immediate city center, under 5 outside it). Incidentally, most urban planners figure that Tokyo should be more dense instead of forcing people to endure multi-hour commutes, but strict sunlight laws make it very difficult to build tall buildings outside a few designated areas.
- pouetpouet 13y agoTokyo has lots of high rise. But that's not the point. Lots of medium to big cities do it without high rise buildings. I have lived in a 7-8 thousand poeple/sq mi neighborhood. It's not NYC. It was only 5 levels/4stories high. It feels familiar, it doesn't blocks too much sunlight and it is perfectly livable.