Life in the Spanish city that banned cars • Hacker News Board

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#51

Post by village-idiot » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:14 PM UTC

hannasanarion wrote: post #37

Keyframe wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the culture shocks from Europe to US (California) was that there are places where you can't do shit without a car. Like, no place place to walk along the street to get from point A to B.

It's because of the geography. Southern California and Arizona especially were impossible to live in until after Air Conditioning became cheap and widespread in the 1950s. At that time, modernism in architecture and city planning was at its peak: build it big, build it simple, and build it for cars.

The good news is that droughts will forcefully solve this problem in places like Arizona and SoCal. The bad news is that droughts are coming.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#52

Post by Freak_NL » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:14 PM UTC

TomMarius wrote: post #14

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

On top of other issues, most of Europe also enjoys a 4-season year - meaning that a bike or scooter is safely and comfortably usable around half of a year, definitely not more.

Please send a note to the Dutch (and the Germans, the Danish, the French, the Belgians, …) to tell them to stop riding their bicycles in the midst of winter.

In the past five years there was one day when I couldn't cycle to work due to black ice covering most of the roads, and even that resolved itself in the afternoon. Snow just means you need a bit more dexterity than usual.

As for comfort; proper clothing means you are pretty much comfortable most of the time.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#53

Post by elvecinodeabajo » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:15 PM UTC

TomMarius wrote: post #14

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

On top of other issues, most of Europe also enjoys a 4-season year - meaning that a bike or scooter is safely and comfortably usable around half of a year, definitely not more.

Here's a fact: Pontevedra and the area surrounding is famous in Spain for really rainy winters and springs. Pontevedra city is facing directly to the sea.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#54

Post by scbrg » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:17 PM UTC

fabatka wrote: post #16

boobsbr wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

25 minutes on foot? It's more of a village than a city.

Are you familiar with the saying "In Europe 100 miles is a long way, In the US 100 years is a long time"?

In Europe 100 miles is... an anglicism :-)

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#55

Post by _Codemonkeyism » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:18 PM UTC

Working in the center of Berlin, I wish Berlin would do the same. There is a hospital near, and a constant load noise level from ambulances. Without cars, those could be much much quieter, but traffic increased, cars got more soundproof and people hear loud music, so ambulances became loader all the time. Noise kills people.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#56

Post by fudgy73 » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:18 PM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

totally agree, but a question for you and others - what's the point | what's going to happen | why is so much $$ being put into autonomous vehicles?

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#57

Post by loriverkutya » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:18 PM UTC

boobsbr wrote: post #6

cf141q5325 wrote: post #5

>“The city is the perfect size for pedestrianisation,” says local architect Rogelio Carballo Soler. “You can cross the entire city in 25 minutes. This seems to be the key point why it works.

25 minutes on foot? It's more of a village than a city.

with 80 000 people living there, it is not a village

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#58

Post by agumonkey » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:20 PM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

I also think there's a cultural relativism (pardon the anecdotal neologism~) factor. 100 years ago, moving people with a loaded trunk 100miles an hour was heaven. It became an obvious axiom of modern life that "further faster" was always good. To an extent I even think high speed internet is related to that (you can be everywhere without even moving).

But I realized that going fast you forget what's near, and you forget what time can feel. Walking around you discover places you didn't know, you spend time in the forest, on a hill. You're not rushing to go from A to B. Maybe "time density" will have a come back.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#59

Post by koolba » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:20 PM UTC

montenegrohugo wrote: post #3

This may be shocking to people with an American upbringing, but cars (especially privately owned ones) just do not make sense going forward. Cities get bigger and denser, and wasting a big % of land on parking spaces, roads, intersections and accepting a horrible air quality (that reduces citizen life spans and health quality) and noise pollution just does not make any sense anymore. Carse are effective in less dense…

In cities sure, but there’s plenty of us who do not want to live in cities. Heck, I don’t even want to live within eye sight of neighbors, stores, or really anything else except some pristine woods. That’s not possible without a car.

Re: Life in the Spanish city that banned cars

#60

Post by _Codemonkeyism » Tue, Sep 18, 2018, 12:21 PM UTC

mantas wrote: post #44

skh wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived for a while in Berlin. Coming back to the U.S. the first thing I noticed were too many billboards and ugly parking lots. Each store has its own parking lot. Largely underused. No nice paths to traverse the bleak endless parking lot landscape. It’s ugly and wasteful. It’s hostile to pedestrians and discourages people from going outside to just wander. Even in relatively walkable communities like the one I live…

And then Berlin is rather car-friendly by Euro standards..

Berlin is the most car friendly city in Germany, both east and west (and the united city) spent a lot of money on car friendly streets - and still is.

It's funny that the German political party SPD which is responsible for most of this now wants to rebrand itself as bicycle friendly. But the largest sausage producer in Germany is now also the largesg vegan 'meat' producer. And soon pigs will fly.