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Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

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Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#31

Post by shortoncash »

I would restrict traffic to very specific use cases, like Uber, taxis, public transit, and charge high tolls for everyone else. Then, I'd encourage e-bike or bike rebates/tax credits. The traffic situation in cities is really out of hand. The fact that this country has an obesity epidemic just makes this solution even more appealing to me.

This isn't really a "freedom" oriented line of thinking and I get a lot of hate from people with certain political bents when I mention this idea, but there's no social value in total gridlock. Cities are a special situation where the streets are a public resource that needs to be allocated properly. The streets are nowhere near being allocated properly in most of the cities I have lived in.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#32

Post by QuarterReptile »

maxharris wrote: post #7

On a heavily-used block with tall buildings on both sides, here's a recipe that will work well: 1. Dig up the street and sidewalks, going down 60-100 feet. 2. At the bottom of this pit, drive in piles if you haven't yet hit bedrock. 3. Build a box, about twenty feet high, to run plumbing, power internet, and other utilities 4. On top of that box, build another one for a train. 5. On top of that box, build another one…

This is precisely the type of thing that US cities need to stop doing. Building to a top level of service from the outset is a terrible plan.

What US cities need is a chaotic process of applying improvements, then making more permanent and high quality iterations as the initial fixes take hold. If your town has wide roads and cars that drive too fast, the logical step isn't installing curbs for protected bike lanes; it's paint to artificially narrow the road.

It won't give a perfectly clean implementation for every project, but it will prevent cities from making enormous bets that end up failing.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#33

Post by QuarterReptile »

combatentropy wrote: post #9
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #2

That's not easy. Take public transit, for instance. Arguably, that would be a good thing to change - supply fast, frequent, convenient public transit. But how would you do it? US cities (with few exceptions) have reached a stable equilibrium where cars are necessary because there's no convenient transit, there's no transit because the city doesn't have the density to make it worthwhile, and it can't have the density…

Of course the U.S. has the chicken-and-egg problem, but public transit is my vote if I could wave a magic wand. I am tired of car cities: more pollution, obesity, rage, and sprawl.

I'd say the logical place to start in the US is by finding the streets that have negative cash flow just from maintaining the infrastructure, and start handing those streets back over to the home- and business-owners located on them, in whatever way seems the least politically suicidal. If you live in a cheap SFH on a whole acre,or own storage units, there's no reason you should expect urban-quality roads, water, sewage, and emergency services.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#34

Post by pythia__ »

If obvious inefficiencies are not being fixed, nobody's incentives are aligned with fixing them. A sustainable solution must address the wrong or weak incentives, not try to fix the inefficiencies one at a time. Business owners are uniquely empowered and incentivized to address inefficiencies in their businesses and to compete for the customer. They lose money if they provide a product that isn't good enough. Making cities businesses would allow you to leverage that.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#35

Post by sevilo »

shortoncash wrote: post #31

I would restrict traffic to very specific use cases, like Uber, taxis, public transit, and charge high tolls for everyone else. Then, I'd encourage e-bike or bike rebates/tax credits. The traffic situation in cities is really out of hand. The fact that this country has an obesity epidemic just makes this solution even more appealing to me. This isn't really a "freedom" oriented line of thinking and I get a lot of hat…

this may work well for smaller cities that are highly dense, but for a lot of North American cities, where a large population live in the suburbs and commute into city center for work, public transit are often unreliable and there's not big enough of a population overall support long hour, frequent services. I don't think it's fair or realistic to ask them to bike multiple hours to get to work everyday. Not to say hate, but I do find this type of proposal or thinking somewhat elitist and completely ignorant to the fact that there are others who do not live in cities yet depend on them for a living. Many people already choose to live in the suburb in order to lower their living cost compared to living in city centers, is it fair that they will be charged high tolls compare to whoever that's able to afford city center living?

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#37

Post by shortoncash »

sevilo wrote: post #35
shortoncash wrote: post #31

I would restrict traffic to very specific use cases, like Uber, taxis, public transit, and charge high tolls for everyone else. Then, I'd encourage e-bike or bike rebates/tax credits. The traffic situation in cities is really out of hand. The fact that this country has an obesity epidemic just makes this solution even more appealing to me. This isn't really a "freedom" oriented line of thinking and I get a lot of hat…

this may work well for smaller cities that are highly dense, but for a lot of North American cities, where a large population live in the suburbs and commute into city center for work, public transit are often unreliable and there's not big enough of a population overall support long hour, frequent services. I don't think it's fair or realistic to ask them to bike multiple hours to get to work everyday. Not to say ha…

Is it fair? No. However, people who don't live within a city really aren't in a position to dictate how that city should be run if they don't actually live and vote there.

Plus, employers would eventually just provide transit options to their labor pool. It would be similar to the bus services that the large companies in Silicon Valley use to bus in employees from neighboring cities and towns. The market and transportation systems would realign to fix problems.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#38

Post by tmaly »

I would make them more walking and bike friendly.

Schools, I would like full control be at the parent level or city level and not at the state of federal level.

I would like to see more of the mundane jobs at the city level automated so property taxes could be lowered. In the state I live some property taxes approach 5 percent of the assessed value. High property taxes make it prohibitive for elderly people to retire in the place they grew up in. You lose some of the community.

Re: Ask HN: How would you fix cities?

#39

Post by Jemaclus »

Most of my ideas revolve around the need for better transportation.

Ideal (for me) but completely impractical: the interstate exits end in giant parking garages. Everyone walks, bikes, or takes light-rail/buses to get around the city. Only vehicles allowed in the city are deliver vehicles between 11pm-7am. This would probably only work in very small cities, sadly.

More realistic:

Las Vegas has the right idea on the Strip, though it definitely needs improvement. Cars and pedestrians should never have to compete for street-crossing opportunities. Pedestrian bridges to cross major avenues. Ground-level entrances should lead to parking garages or elevators.

All customer-centric stuff should be on the "second" level where the pedestrians walk. Imagine just taking every sidewalk and jacking it up 12 feet. You aren't walking on the street, you're walking on a raised sidewalk that goes from building to building. This completely eliminates the need for pedestrians to stop and wait to cross the street, while still allowing cars free reign below. You could turn entire intersections into courtyards, freeing up more real estate for street vendors.

This also frees up real estate for larger building footprints -- you don't need as many street-level parking spaces if every building's ground-floor is a giant parking lot!

I'm sure all of the above is totally impractical and that you'll all shoot it down with pesky facts... but a man can dream... :)

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