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Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

texasmonthly.com

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Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#261

Post by beambot »

bcrosby95 wrote: post #172
crispyambulance wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_ It's also an assumption that everyone wants to begin and end every trip, no matter how trivial, with a parking spot. It's an assumption that people will want to drive in traffic for 20 minutes minimum to get to a supermarket, do anything with their kids, or anything outside their property line. The notion of "stacked on top of each other" has unple…

> It's also an assumption that everyone wants to begin and end every trip, no matter how trivial, with a parking spot. It's an assumption that people will want to drive in traffic for 20 minutes minimum to get to a supermarket, do anything with their kids, or anything outside their property line. I wouldn't be surprised to find some suburbs with some of the traits you mention, but it hasn't been my experience with th…

Do you predominantly walk, bike, or drive to your sub-2mi supermarket?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#262

Post by EricE »

xenocyon wrote: post #149
exabrial wrote: post #7

The elephant in the room is the assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_. I do agree that designing cities around cars has ruined a lot of nice places though.

I think the bigger elephant in all of our rooms is climate change. Density is by far more climate-sustainable (as well as more environmentally sustainable in other ways) than sprawl. In addition, global economic forces are creating a mass move to cities around the world anyway. So no matter what we think we want right now, we will at some point in the present or future be forced to reckon with density either pleasant…

"Density is by far more climate-sustainable (as well as more environmentally sustainable in other ways) than sprawl."

Care to back that up?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#263

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

iso1631 wrote: post #74
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person. European cities are also relatively young. If you want to see old cities, you should visit the Middle East or China.

Athens dates back before cities like Damascus and Jehrico, and probably even before Luxor. Not aware of any cities in China older than about 2000BC.

> Athens dates back before cities like Damascus and Jehrico,

I think that is highly controversial to say the least. I think the accepted consensus is Jericho is the oldest continuously inhabited city.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#264

Post by CydeWeys »

leetcrew wrote: post #123
throw_away wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was also in the context of a long history of barricades being put up by popular uprisings and stymying and trapping troop formations.

I guess I'm thinking too much in terms of modern times, where police are mostly aiming to contain a larger crowd. didn't consider that demonstrators might actually intend to trap security forces.

You're thinking about modern protests that are relatively peaceful and in which deaths are rare. The Paris riots looked a lot more like outright urban guerrilla warfare with lots of deaths, in a manner that is more similar to actual declared wars here in the US (e.g. the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War), not mere urban unrest.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#265

Post by ChickeNES »

crmrc114 wrote: post #43
totalZero wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Houston, you drive. There is no reason to judge space in one place by the use patterns of a totally different place.

I have lived in walking cities, I prefer to have a car. I can enjoy my own music or podcast- my own schedule in the case of mass transit. I can also enjoy my own aircon and heat settings. I know lots of people want to bike/walk everywhere- that is just not for me. I think this comes up everytime someone talks about urban planning here. Some people just have no interest in living within high density areas- I am one of…

> I can enjoy my own music or podcast- my own schedule in the case of mass transit. I can also enjoy my own aircon and heat settings.

I'm honestly confused, how are these things not possible in the city? My earbuds worked perfectly fine on the bus and train pre-covid, and my apartment has its own thermostat (and indeed its own HVAC system)

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#266

Post by mcguire »

occamrazor wrote: post #72
wongarsu wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European, I don't like living in the same house as 5 other families, whose sleep schedule doesn't necessarily align with mine. The acoustic isolation is probably a lot better than in typical US houses, but not perfect either. However I do like living 3 minutes from the next supermarket, and 20 minutes from the city center with all the shop, and 25 minutes from my work (all distances by foot). I would love to hav…

For a reasonable price one can have _either_ a single-family house, _or_ an apartment close to the city centre in most European towns. Having both usually is possible for an exorbitant price.

"Reasonable" by San Francisco standards, or normal human beings'?

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#267

Post by vel0city »

oblio wrote: post #215
luckylion wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to go to the urban center for everyday things though, you go there because that's where the jobs are. When full remote becomes more wide-spread, that might change things rapidly.

It's not only jobs. Do you want to watch theater? Opera? Concerts? Major sports events? Do you want to join a club for an obscure African sport? I could go on and on. There is a reason we've been congregating in cities for millennia, despite having to overcome many diseases which are made worse by overcrowdedness.

You can live in the suburbs and still enjoy theater, concerts, opera, etc. I live in a suburb. There is a performing arts center a bicycle ride away which outside of these Covid times had some kind of opera or symphony or ballet or something along those lines going on. The university nearby often had shows well. If you wanted to see a live show you could probably find one within 15min any given weekend.

There is a light rail line running through the suburb which connects downtown. Its a 30 minute train ride to go to the big event venue for big sports and concerts. This precludes the idea of going to the local minor league teams in the area as well which can often be just as much fun to watch and follow and far cheaper to attend.

There are club sports which participate in the park in my neighborhood. All I need to do is walk down the street and find people playing various kinds of sports. There are larger suburb-city owned sports complex on the bike trails for even more congregation.

Living in a suburb does not mean you can never go and see a show or a sports game or a concert.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#268

Post by [deleted] »

iso1631 wrote: post #71
ben_w wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much so, that I didn’t really understand SimCity until I visited the USA. I don’t think I’ve even seen a water tower outside the states, and if I have they are disguised as other things. (Unless you count the tanks on top of literally every Cypriot building, but even those are nothing like the American/SimCity type).

There's a few water towers around Norfolk - and a particularly brutalist one near Lowestoft not far from the furthest East point of the UK

[deleted]

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#269

Post by mcguire »

EricE wrote: post #262
xenocyon wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the bigger elephant in all of our rooms is climate change. Density is by far more climate-sustainable (as well as more environmentally sustainable in other ways) than sprawl. In addition, global economic forces are creating a mass move to cities around the world anyway. So no matter what we think we want right now, we will at some point in the present or future be forced to reckon with density either pleasant…

"Density is by far more climate-sustainable (as well as more environmentally sustainable in other ways) than sprawl." Care to back that up?

Well, certainly bacteria and viruses have an easier time getting around.

Re: Interchange in Houston is the same size as an entire city center in Italy

#270

Post by [deleted] »

binarytox1n wrote: post #251
yason wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

supermarket has never been more than 2 miles away - certainly not a 20 minute drive and it's even within biking distance I'd consider that far, far away. My walk to the nearest train station is about one mile, takes about 15 minutes to get there on foot, and that's irritatingly far, too, considering the trip is two way and repeats every day. Something like a grocery shop should be accessible within decent walking dis…

American in Texas here - maybe this is a behavior encouraged by the very thing we're discussing, but going to the grocery store _every day_ is a big yikes to me. I go once a week and get everything I need for that week. Because I take my car, I can carry that amount of stuff.

[deleted]
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