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To stay relevant to young people suburbs need to transform themselves from sprawling, car oriented strip malls to compact, walkable, transit oriented, complete

To stay relevant to young people suburbs need to transform themselves from sprawling, car oriented strip malls to compact, walkable, transit oriented, complete small cities and towns.

swombat 13y ago
Agreed. There's plenty of people leaving around Greater London who only commute for work. A place like Wimbledon might be a solid 40 minutes trip out of London (at the end of a tube line) but if you live there, there's everything you want nearby and you don't have to go anywhere else to find a nice little town that you can walk about and enjoy yourself in. A suburb that isn't a place where you can actually live - there's a name for that in french, we call them cités dortoirs - dormitory towns. No one wants to live there.
- a3n 13y ago
  In English in America they're "bedroom communities." Just a place to sleep. (The metaphors run deep on that one.)
  - saraid216 13y ago
    There's a point at which saying, "The Matrix has you," is no longer amusing.
- rayiner 13y ago
  There's towns like that in the U.S. I used my car about once a month in the New York suburbs 20 miles north of Manhattan. All those little towns are on the train line, and have walkable downtowns where you can get whatever you need.
jarrett 13y ago
I believe that's the major reason. (Based solely on my anecdotal evidence.) Most young folks I know don't want to be car-dependent. They often cite gas prices as the primary reason. Gas is already expensive, and the young people I know expect prices to go much, much higher. Some of them also mention exercise as a reason.
- Crito 13y ago
  Not having to drive back home from bars and restaurants is a big deal too. In the city I can meet up with some friends, get a meal and have a few drinks, then still get home safely. No designated drivers required.
- Tiktaalik 13y ago
  Your reasoning about why your friends don't want to drive may be anecdotal, but we do know for a fact that car companies are indeed struggling to get young people to buy cars.
- ufmace 13y ago
  For me, I'd say the core reason is that driving is inherently stressful. The whole time you're on the road, you're one mistake - yours or somebody else's - away from potentially huge property damage and massive injuries. Then you have worries about parking, getting broken into, driving drunk, servicing, etc. Seems easier to just walk.
  - jarrett 13y ago
    For me personally, that's on par with gas prices as a reason not to drive. (I do it as little as possible, and rent a car when I do.)
  - eqdw 13y ago
    +1 on that. I bought a car last year, and my car (at $22k) is costing way more than the expected cost of gas over a 10 year lifetime (~$12k). Gas prices aren't actually the blocker, when you take the long view. Driving, on the other hand. I grew up (and learned to drive in a city the (geographic) size of San Jose, with 700k people in the entire metro area. Living in the bay area now, I don't understand why people have cars. I can't drive to work in SF ($30/day parking is almost half what my rent is). I can't even drive, well, anywhere. Bay Bridge and 101 are both stop-and-go every time I get on them. People drive like maniacs, tailgate me, cut me off. Routinely break traffic law, creating dangerous situations I can't deal with. And then, at least in SF, the pedestrians and cyclists are ballsy motherfuckers, and it's too hard for me to track them all. Every time I go driving, I have a panic attack over either someone on the road who is going to kill me, or a pedestrian I'm going to accidentally kill. Or, I can hop on BART and walk the rest of the way. Just go in, sit (or stand, whatever), wait 20 minutes, and BAM HOLYSHIT LOOK THERE I AM. I can understand the convenience of driving, but I sure as shit can't figure out why so many people enjoy driving in a major city.
ChuckMcM 13y ago
This is an experiment that Sunnyvale is trying to pull off. They are creating a fairly tight down town with housing, shops, and easy access to mass transit; all walkable. I don't believe they have a "real" grocery client there yet (there is a Target but its not like a Safeway or Trader Joe's) but that would probably be the right move. I'm watching the project closely to see how effective it is.
- sjg007 13y ago
  It will work. The only downside is all the new buildings are luxury apartments that want $3-5k.
  - ChuckMcM 13y ago
    The ones near the tracks are, the ones in the original development (across from Macys and Target and the store to be built later) are allegedly going to be more affordable. Of course the original builder went bankrupt in the mortgage crisis.
- falcolas 13y ago
  There's a good sized grocery store on Maude and Matilda. But it's just groceries, not a grocery/coffee shop/cafe/...

To stay relevant to young people suburbs need to transform themselves from sprawling, car oriented strip malls to compact, walkable, transit oriented, complete small cities and towns.

swombat 13y ago

Agreed. There's plenty of people leaving around Greater London who only commute for work. A place like Wimbledon might be a solid 40 minutes trip out of London (at the end of a tube line) but if you live there, there's everything you want nearby and you don't have to go anywhere else to find a nice little town that you can walk about and enjoy yourself in. A suburb that isn't a place where you can actually live - there's a name for that in french, we call them cités dortoirs - dormitory towns. No one wants to live there.

a3n 13y ago
In English in America they're "bedroom communities." Just a place to sleep. (The metaphors run deep on that one.)
- saraid216 13y ago
  There's a point at which saying, "The Matrix has you," is no longer amusing.
rayiner 13y ago
There's towns like that in the U.S. I used my car about once a month in the New York suburbs 20 miles north of Manhattan. All those little towns are on the train line, and have walkable downtowns where you can get whatever you need.

jarrett 13y ago

I believe that's the major reason. (Based solely on my anecdotal evidence.) Most young folks I know don't want to be car-dependent. They often cite gas prices as the primary reason. Gas is already expensive, and the young people I know expect prices to go much, much higher. Some of them also mention exercise as a reason.

Crito 13y ago
Not having to drive back home from bars and restaurants is a big deal too. In the city I can meet up with some friends, get a meal and have a few drinks, then still get home safely. No designated drivers required.
Tiktaalik 13y ago
Your reasoning about why your friends don't want to drive may be anecdotal, but we do know for a fact that car companies are indeed struggling to get young people to buy cars.
ufmace 13y ago
For me, I'd say the core reason is that driving is inherently stressful. The whole time you're on the road, you're one mistake - yours or somebody else's - away from potentially huge property damage and massive injuries. Then you have worries about parking, getting broken into, driving drunk, servicing, etc. Seems easier to just walk.
- jarrett 13y ago
  For me personally, that's on par with gas prices as a reason not to drive. (I do it as little as possible, and rent a car when I do.)
- eqdw 13y ago
  +1 on that. I bought a car last year, and my car (at $22k) is costing way more than the expected cost of gas over a 10 year lifetime (~$12k). Gas prices aren't actually the blocker, when you take the long view. Driving, on the other hand. I grew up (and learned to drive in a city the (geographic) size of San Jose, with 700k people in the entire metro area. Living in the bay area now, I don't understand why people have cars. I can't drive to work in SF ($30/day parking is almost half what my rent is). I can't even drive, well, anywhere. Bay Bridge and 101 are both stop-and-go every time I get on them. People drive like maniacs, tailgate me, cut me off. Routinely break traffic law, creating dangerous situations I can't deal with. And then, at least in SF, the pedestrians and cyclists are ballsy motherfuckers, and it's too hard for me to track them all. Every time I go driving, I have a panic attack over either someone on the road who is going to kill me, or a pedestrian I'm going to accidentally kill. Or, I can hop on BART and walk the rest of the way. Just go in, sit (or stand, whatever), wait 20 minutes, and BAM HOLYSHIT LOOK THERE I AM. I can understand the convenience of driving, but I sure as shit can't figure out why so many people enjoy driving in a major city.

ChuckMcM 13y ago

This is an experiment that Sunnyvale is trying to pull off. They are creating a fairly tight down town with housing, shops, and easy access to mass transit; all walkable. I don't believe they have a "real" grocery client there yet (there is a Target but its not like a Safeway or Trader Joe's) but that would probably be the right move. I'm watching the project closely to see how effective it is.

sjg007 13y ago
It will work. The only downside is all the new buildings are luxury apartments that want $3-5k.
- ChuckMcM 13y ago
  The ones near the tracks are, the ones in the original development (across from Macys and Target and the store to be built later) are allegedly going to be more affordable. Of course the original builder went bankrupt in the mortgage crisis.
falcolas 13y ago
There's a good sized grocery store on Maude and Matilda. But it's just groceries, not a grocery/coffee shop/cafe/...