Late to the comments as usual, but I was in Vancouver very briefly last year at the end of a trip to Alaska and I was VERY unhappy I got no time to actually experience the city, seeing it entirely through the windows of the bus that transported us directly to the airport. Niagara Falls and Toronto are all I've seen of our Northern neighbor, and it would have been nice to see more.
I don't mind if people want sprawl, but they will have to pay for their own maintenance. Make property taxes dependent on the local infrastructure maintenance costs, so cheaper per capita in dense urban areas (short roads, pipes, and wires; with lots of people paying in) and more expensive per capita in suburbs (long roads, pipes, and wires; with less people paying in).
We can have "larger homes and room to grow a family" within walkable towns. It just requires that (a) most neighborhoods have a wide variety of housing types, including multi-BR (not necessarily detached) houses; and (b) all neighborhoods have public parks. Urban density does not have room for each and every household to have their own large private yard, but it *does* have room for children, families, and people of all ages.
I live in a walkable part of a walkable city (SF) and I couldn't love it more. I take the light-rail downtown to go to the office, and it's great getting some exercise outside (and not sitting in traffic). I used to have to commute/drive and I hated it.
My parents live in a suburb about 45 min away and practically all of their neighbors street-park despite having 2+ car garages because they have so much crap (and they're good-sized houses too). We need to learn to live with less stuff.
My new neighborhood is slightly less walkable than my old one - there's no movie theater*, coffeehouse, or diner in the immediate vicinity - but it was certainly a streetcar suburb back when we had them (despite being part of the city proper). It's not walkable for me, because my old bones don't let me walk far at all anymore, but a less achy person could do alright on foot here. I'm overjoyed at the space we have, but most suburbanites would consider this too small I'm sure. Fortunately, the mortgage is relatively small as well. I ain't complaining.
* There was a theater people could have walked to in the area. It's been closed for many years, tho attempts to raise funds for rehabbing it are underway. It's notable in the area for Motorhead having been so loud when they played there, parts of the ceiling literally came down.
Yeah, us Americans need our deadly depressing split level ranch houses and faux "Colonials" on lots so huge that our kids never make any friends but instead spend all their time online in their precious separate bedrooms, that sacred suburban luxury, mastering access to the dark web on their way to becoming serial killers.
Smug coworker in DC circa 1992 crowed that he just bought a townhouse in Manassas. "Huge house, a gorgeous view, a cornfield across the street..." etc. I said enraged him by saying: "For now." Cut to 8 months later: Guess what happened to the cornfield?
I live in Chicago, a very walkable city and I don't get the appeal of having to drive everywhere. Within a 10 minute walk of my apartment there are 5 parks, 2 with community centers, a commuter train station and hub, scooter rental, schools, 2 grocery stores, several pharmacies, 2 gyms, UPS store, lots of shopping, food, bars, cafes.
I honestly don't get the appeal of a big house. It means you have a lot to take care of, clean, maintain. I don't want every weekend taken up with home improvement and maintenance projects. Privacy? I'm an introvert, an apartment is plenty private.
I've lived in the suburbs. It's chock full of ennui. Nowhere to go that you don't need a car to get there. They don't even have sidewalks half the time. Very isolated and cut off. What's appealing about that?
Most people seem to HATE driving, which is why they try to get everywhere as fast as possible, often being reckless and inconsiderate of other drivers in the process.
I would just like to throw my disabled hat into the ring. I am ALL FOR,,, all of THIS. Except I live a 20 minute highway trip to my hospital, and I can't drive. My husband or my friend drives me to chemo and scans and all the crap you have to do when you're a cancer patient. Where do I fit in amongst the anti-car, pro-disability spectrum?
It isn't anti-car to say that giving people more options reduces car use. Oh, and the reason it takes 20 minutes and a highway to get to the hospital instead of 10 minutes on a tram? That's because of the car lobby.
I would go so far as saying that being against giving people more options could be described as being anti-freedom.
Ta, Dok. Our pied-à-terre is in a 15 minute neighborhood. We have a car to get out of town to the pied-à-nuage, which is on a forested mountainside. Up There, our county's biggest export is water; our microclimate is temperate rainforest. We grew our first food garden last summer, and still have pickled cucumbers from the harvest. It was an experiment; starting 2025 we're going to raise as much of our own food as we can. Our mountain provides us with great foraging.
I loathe The Sprawl. One of the city's major farmers markets, Union Square Greenmarket, had a great idea some years back. Apart from signage that told what each vendor grew and sold, they put up quotes from the farmers. One struck me so deeply that it's engraved on my heart: "Once we lose agricultural land to development, we never get it back." Arable land is as precious as potable water, and should be protected as such.
Late to the comments as usual, but I was in Vancouver very briefly last year at the end of a trip to Alaska and I was VERY unhappy I got no time to actually experience the city, seeing it entirely through the windows of the bus that transported us directly to the airport. Niagara Falls and Toronto are all I've seen of our Northern neighbor, and it would have been nice to see more.
I don't mind if people want sprawl, but they will have to pay for their own maintenance. Make property taxes dependent on the local infrastructure maintenance costs, so cheaper per capita in dense urban areas (short roads, pipes, and wires; with lots of people paying in) and more expensive per capita in suburbs (long roads, pipes, and wires; with less people paying in).
We can have "larger homes and room to grow a family" within walkable towns. It just requires that (a) most neighborhoods have a wide variety of housing types, including multi-BR (not necessarily detached) houses; and (b) all neighborhoods have public parks. Urban density does not have room for each and every household to have their own large private yard, but it *does* have room for children, families, and people of all ages.
I live in a walkable part of a walkable city (SF) and I couldn't love it more. I take the light-rail downtown to go to the office, and it's great getting some exercise outside (and not sitting in traffic). I used to have to commute/drive and I hated it.
My parents live in a suburb about 45 min away and practically all of their neighbors street-park despite having 2+ car garages because they have so much crap (and they're good-sized houses too). We need to learn to live with less stuff.
… It's over there, it's over there
My new neighborhood is slightly less walkable than my old one - there's no movie theater*, coffeehouse, or diner in the immediate vicinity - but it was certainly a streetcar suburb back when we had them (despite being part of the city proper). It's not walkable for me, because my old bones don't let me walk far at all anymore, but a less achy person could do alright on foot here. I'm overjoyed at the space we have, but most suburbanites would consider this too small I'm sure. Fortunately, the mortgage is relatively small as well. I ain't complaining.
* There was a theater people could have walked to in the area. It's been closed for many years, tho attempts to raise funds for rehabbing it are underway. It's notable in the area for Motorhead having been so loud when they played there, parts of the ceiling literally came down.
Now that DEI is forbidden, the next thing banned from our institutions of higher learning will be degrees in urban planning.
Urban PLANNING?
Sounds Communist to me, citizen!
Yeah, us Americans need our deadly depressing split level ranch houses and faux "Colonials" on lots so huge that our kids never make any friends but instead spend all their time online in their precious separate bedrooms, that sacred suburban luxury, mastering access to the dark web on their way to becoming serial killers.
I recommend THE GEOGRAPHY OF NOWHERE by James Howard Kunstler. It's a classic from 1993.
Smug coworker in DC circa 1992 crowed that he just bought a townhouse in Manassas. "Huge house, a gorgeous view, a cornfield across the street..." etc. I said enraged him by saying: "For now." Cut to 8 months later: Guess what happened to the cornfield?
I live in Chicago, a very walkable city and I don't get the appeal of having to drive everywhere. Within a 10 minute walk of my apartment there are 5 parks, 2 with community centers, a commuter train station and hub, scooter rental, schools, 2 grocery stores, several pharmacies, 2 gyms, UPS store, lots of shopping, food, bars, cafes.
I honestly don't get the appeal of a big house. It means you have a lot to take care of, clean, maintain. I don't want every weekend taken up with home improvement and maintenance projects. Privacy? I'm an introvert, an apartment is plenty private.
I've lived in the suburbs. It's chock full of ennui. Nowhere to go that you don't need a car to get there. They don't even have sidewalks half the time. Very isolated and cut off. What's appealing about that?
Most people seem to HATE driving, which is why they try to get everywhere as fast as possible, often being reckless and inconsiderate of other drivers in the process.
Isn't it inconvenient getting shot 50 or 60 times a day?
s/
I would just like to throw my disabled hat into the ring. I am ALL FOR,,, all of THIS. Except I live a 20 minute highway trip to my hospital, and I can't drive. My husband or my friend drives me to chemo and scans and all the crap you have to do when you're a cancer patient. Where do I fit in amongst the anti-car, pro-disability spectrum?
It isn't anti-car to say that giving people more options reduces car use. Oh, and the reason it takes 20 minutes and a highway to get to the hospital instead of 10 minutes on a tram? That's because of the car lobby.
I would go so far as saying that being against giving people more options could be described as being anti-freedom.
Nobody walks in L.A.
can’t wait for Dok to work Cheever’s enduring short story about, possibly, suburban psychosis, “The Swimmer” into a piece
Ta, Dok. Our pied-à-terre is in a 15 minute neighborhood. We have a car to get out of town to the pied-à-nuage, which is on a forested mountainside. Up There, our county's biggest export is water; our microclimate is temperate rainforest. We grew our first food garden last summer, and still have pickled cucumbers from the harvest. It was an experiment; starting 2025 we're going to raise as much of our own food as we can. Our mountain provides us with great foraging.
I loathe The Sprawl. One of the city's major farmers markets, Union Square Greenmarket, had a great idea some years back. Apart from signage that told what each vendor grew and sold, they put up quotes from the farmers. One struck me so deeply that it's engraved on my heart: "Once we lose agricultural land to development, we never get it back." Arable land is as precious as potable water, and should be protected as such.
Brilliant post Dok.
Thank you, as always.