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This is tangental, but why aren't we building new cities? We keep on adding population. We have realized that people under 30 don't want to live in the suburbs.
by ebiester 12y ago
This is tangental, but why aren't we building new cities? We keep on adding population. We have realized that people under 30 don't want to live in the suburbs. We have realized that poor and rich alike don't really like the suburban model.
However, the current set of cities are constrained. We can't really build out, and public transportation has been found to be a must. Cars aren't the solution in high density living. As such, we need new land.
Import artists. Bring along tech. Have artisans build some great buildings.
It would only take 50 square miles, some coastline, and some water rights. Why isn't this the time to be bold?
- wdewind 12y agoIn the history of humanity the "build it and they will come" method of creating cities has not yielded great results. Take a look at Brasilia, or China's ghost cities.
- TYPE_FASTER 12y agoIt's a chicken and egg problem: it's hard to artificially create centers of population density. China is doing it, with mixed results, because they can just relocate people. It's not as much building new cities, but expanding cities. One of the reasons for Manhattan's "success" as a city is it's physically constrained, so developers build up, so population density increases. All the development happening in the Seaport area of Boston is a good example. The Fort Point area, just north of the Seaport, was an artist enclave until recently, when people were priced out of the city and buildings started flipping in Fort Point. Now, there are multiple luxury high rises being built on the water, and tech companies are moving into the area. Artists moving to Detroit will happen, but it will take a lonnnnng time to gentrify the city, just like it took decades to bring NYC from what it was in the 1970s to now.