4 ms·

I've heard about failed city planning a lot, and I wonder is there a good example somewhere? like a booming city with more than 5 million population that have "

I've heard about failed city planning a lot, and I wonder is there a good example somewhere? like a booming city with more than 5 million population that have "good" city plan? which city is best in this regard?

sampo 12y ago
> I've heard about failed city planning a lot, and I wonder is there a good example somewhere? Cities with functional public transport and walkable neighborhoods: Tokyo, Seoul, London, New York City, Paris, Berlin. Maybe also Madrid and Singapore, but I don't know much about them. Edit: Maybe Osaka and Nagoya, too (I don't know much about them either). All these have over 5 million population.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Alphasite_ 12y ago
  Singapore is excellently planned from what I can see. Dubai is another as well.
- narag 12y ago
  Madrid has an excellent public transport net. I sold my car two years ago, no regrets. But there's also a lot of traffic.
- WildUtah 12y ago
  Barcelona and Osaka are also well known for doing a good job at facing the challenges of developing a big city. Nagoya and Taipei have been mentioned to me as examples, too. Mexico City deals every day with the challenges of having grown very fast to 20 million before it became rich. New subway and BRT lines, infill development, upgrading properties, and progressive transit and construction planning keep the place getting better to live in and easier to get around every year. Phasing in pollution and emission regulations as they became affordable and regulating polluting industries out of the region step by step worked well, too. In spite of the famous chaos of Mexican government, Mexico City will soon mark thirty years of effective governance and planning, so it can be done. If Mexico can do it, China and the USA -- which are usually considered to be only somewhat worse governed than México -- could probably do it, too, someday.
- sampo 12y ago
  Actually, looking at the list of metropolitan areas with over 5 million population, I think if we look at the first world cities, but exclude North America, but include New York City and maybe Toronto, all of them have very usable public transport systems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_p...
- eloisant 12y ago
  Paris is a bad example of functional public transport. You have intramuros Paris, which is walkable and have good transportation (metro), and you can add maybe the "petite couronne", but it's much too small to accommodate the population that revolves around the Greater Paris. As soon as you get go outside, you have suburbs with no life and poor transportation. RER and SNCF trains are late when they're not in strike (1). As a result, everyone wants to live in Paris or very close, so the prices of housing are very high. And even if you can afford an appartement, it's very hard to actually sign a lease because there are so many potential tenants wanting to rent it. Add to that the fact that there are very few tall buildings in Paris because they want to keep it some kind of museum city stuck in the 19th century with Haussmanian buildings, the housing problem is not going to fix itself. (1) In Paris suburbs, most child care provider refuse kids whose both parents use the RER. Because they will have no control on the time they'll be back to pick up their kids. Not exactly what we call "functional public transport".
crapshoot101 12y ago
Singapore is perhaps the most efficient city on the planet, albeit at the cost of occasionally feeling a bit "sterile" in some ways.
- jpatokal 12y ago
  Hong Kong's a pretty good contender too, and its public transport is arguably even better than Singapore's -- although not long on current trends, as Singapore is going all out to double or triple the existing metro network.

sampo 12y ago

> I've heard about failed city planning a lot, and I wonder is there a good example somewhere? Cities with functional public transport and walkable neighborhoods: Tokyo, Seoul, London, New York City, Paris, Berlin. Maybe also Madrid and Singapore, but I don't know much about them. Edit: Maybe Osaka and Nagoya, too (I don't know much about them either). All these have over 5 million population.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Alphasite_ 12y ago
Singapore is excellently planned from what I can see. Dubai is another as well.
narag 12y ago
Madrid has an excellent public transport net. I sold my car two years ago, no regrets. But there's also a lot of traffic.
WildUtah 12y ago
Barcelona and Osaka are also well known for doing a good job at facing the challenges of developing a big city. Nagoya and Taipei have been mentioned to me as examples, too. Mexico City deals every day with the challenges of having grown very fast to 20 million before it became rich. New subway and BRT lines, infill development, upgrading properties, and progressive transit and construction planning keep the place getting better to live in and easier to get around every year. Phasing in pollution and emission regulations as they became affordable and regulating polluting industries out of the region step by step worked well, too. In spite of the famous chaos of Mexican government, Mexico City will soon mark thirty years of effective governance and planning, so it can be done. If Mexico can do it, China and the USA -- which are usually considered to be only somewhat worse governed than México -- could probably do it, too, someday.
sampo 12y ago
Actually, looking at the list of metropolitan areas with over 5 million population, I think if we look at the first world cities, but exclude North America, but include New York City and maybe Toronto, all of them have very usable public transport systems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metropolitan_areas_by_p...
eloisant 12y ago
Paris is a bad example of functional public transport. You have intramuros Paris, which is walkable and have good transportation (metro), and you can add maybe the "petite couronne", but it's much too small to accommodate the population that revolves around the Greater Paris. As soon as you get go outside, you have suburbs with no life and poor transportation. RER and SNCF trains are late when they're not in strike (1). As a result, everyone wants to live in Paris or very close, so the prices of housing are very high. And even if you can afford an appartement, it's very hard to actually sign a lease because there are so many potential tenants wanting to rent it. Add to that the fact that there are very few tall buildings in Paris because they want to keep it some kind of museum city stuck in the 19th century with Haussmanian buildings, the housing problem is not going to fix itself. (1) In Paris suburbs, most child care provider refuse kids whose both parents use the RER. Because they will have no control on the time they'll be back to pick up their kids. Not exactly what we call "functional public transport".

crapshoot101 12y ago

Singapore is perhaps the most efficient city on the planet, albeit at the cost of occasionally feeling a bit "sterile" in some ways.

jpatokal 12y ago
Hong Kong's a pretty good contender too, and its public transport is arguably even better than Singapore's -- although not long on current trends, as Singapore is going all out to double or triple the existing metro network.