The next great urban reset • Hacker News Board

Re: The next great urban reset

#11

Post by sp332 » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 3:31 PM UTC

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

1. "Ecological urbanism" doesn't literally mean growing plants. It means letting the city develop organically without a top-down vision. 2. The other option in the article is people giving up on sprawl and moving back into denser, better-planned cities.

Re: The next great urban reset

#12

Post by snuxoll » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 3:33 PM UTC

viscanti wrote: post #8

lotsofpulp wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Theoretically, I think it makes sense that the less resources people use, including space, the better it is for the natural landscape.

People should be forced to use and own more resources than they want/need. Who cares that 6 individuals or families might have wanted an opportunity to have affordable housing and didn't need a larger personal area (because they couldn't afford it)? Shouldn't they just be priced out of the area so that existing home owners can preserve their monoculture? Seems like a cause worth fighting for.

Sounds like San Francisco in a nutshell.

Re: The next great urban reset

#13

Post by cpursley » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 3:34 PM UTC

RobertRoberts wrote: post #5

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

I am actually skeptical of any plan that calls for us to smash more people closer together. A development near my home wanted to smash 5 houses into the same location where 1 was before. With only 12 feet between, (6 feet of yard space for each house) chop down huge trees, etc... I won a small victory at city hall, got a bunch of people to show up, even measured the land and found their plans were 15 feet short! (gre…

You're part of the problem.

Classic "Screw you, I've got mine" mentality.

Re: The next great urban reset

#14

Post by jeffreyrogers » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 3:49 PM UTC

I'm not sure what the point of this article is, but given that the largest cities in the world are still the most desirable place to live for young people (despite the high cost of living), I don't think the status quo will change anytime soon.

Re: The next great urban reset

#15

Post by jmull » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:13 PM UTC

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

I think it’s a “rally the supporters” type of thing.

CNU — the Congress for the New Urbanism — is a group of people who would like towns, cities, etc. to be designed differently.

So this article suggests the attractive notion that the opportunity to redesign these things is “coming soon”. So far, so good.

But then it takes an odd turn and enumerates two ways NOT to redesign things. That seems to really blunt the force of the message. But perhaps they are having a hard time agreeing on a vision, and this is a baby step toward narrowing down the range of the debate? It’s always easy to assemble a group of people who are dissaisfied by the way things are. But much harder to get them to agree on the way things should be.

Personally, I’m somewhat doubtful of “urbanism” at all. Perhaps wide-spread remote work and remote shopping will weaken the need for people to live in specific area near where the jobs are and near where the stuff is, and perhaps without those forces, the downsides of urban living may override the upsides and urban centers will no longer hold together. (Just speculation, though, of course.)

Re: The next great urban reset

#16

Post by notfromhere » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:19 PM UTC

RobertRoberts wrote: post #5

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

I am actually skeptical of any plan that calls for us to smash more people closer together. A development near my home wanted to smash 5 houses into the same location where 1 was before. With only 12 feet between, (6 feet of yard space for each house) chop down huge trees, etc... I won a small victory at city hall, got a bunch of people to show up, even measured the land and found their plans were 15 feet short! (gre…

suburb-style single-family tract housing isn't sustainable. You can live plenty comfortable in a large courtyard apartment as you would in a house, and bonus is its more efficient and environmentally sustainable to build that way

Re: The next great urban reset

#17

Post by matt_wulfeck » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:29 PM UTC

contingencies wrote: post #10

Reset threat #0: Police become ineffective, increasingly working only for corporations and politicians and increasingly militarizing through 'free' gear hand-me-downs. As a result, us-versus-them and FUD mentalities come to dominate, and the increasingly shrinking middle classes retreat from any form of community, leaving them at the mercy of commercial greed which farms neoslums in the workerdrone mass commute perip…

Politics is a funny thing. The extreme right and left tend to meet. People in Utah and other areas have been complaining about the power of our government over its people for long time.

Re: The next great urban reset

#18

Post by matt_wulfeck » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:31 PM UTC

> How it will play out exactly is uncertain. My bet is that financial pressure from broke Millennials to central bank asset bubbles finally running out of steam will converge with new technologies such as ‘automated everything’ to produce the perfect storm, toppling the current paradigm

When complex societies collapse, is it right to say they will rebuild with a simpler system, not a more complex one? To realize the vision of these cities requires strong central planning leadership and money.

I imagine imagine both of those qualities lacking in round 3.

Re: The next great urban reset

#19

Post by icebraining » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

jmull wrote: post #15

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

I think it’s a “rally the supporters” type of thing. CNU — the Congress for the New Urbanism — is a group of people who would like towns, cities, etc. to be designed differently. So this article suggests the attractive notion that the opportunity to redesign these things is “coming soon”. So far, so good. But then it takes an odd turn and enumerates two ways NOT to redesign things. That seems to really blunt the forc…

I think the message here is intended to be read by other new urbanists, not by the general public. The historical review and prediction of a new reset are just the prelude to set the topic, not the main message - that's the "threats" part.

Re: The next great urban reset

#20

Post by ocschwar » Mon, Mar 05, 2018, 4:39 PM UTC

RobertRoberts wrote: post #5

jakecopp wrote: post #4

I feel like I'm not really getting this article, though I am super interested in city planning. It feels too vague. Are they proposing the two most likely scenarios are 1. Everyone going back to running their own farms and 2. Continued urban sprawl? What is the reason for this reset? Millennials priced out of the housing market? I'd be very grateful to hear some clarification about this this piece from someone a lot…

I am actually skeptical of any plan that calls for us to smash more people closer together. A development near my home wanted to smash 5 houses into the same location where 1 was before. With only 12 feet between, (6 feet of yard space for each house) chop down huge trees, etc... I won a small victory at city hall, got a bunch of people to show up, even measured the land and found their plans were 15 feet short! (gre…

"

I am actually skeptical of any plan that calls for us to smash more people closer together."

No such plan exists.

People smash themselves closer together when it makes sense for how they want to live. There are plans to allow it. Those plans should go forward because we live in a free country.