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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

#461
Which interchange?

And this city (Houston) has so many problems I don't know where to start... Highways are one of them because nothing is dense, but its a brutally self reinforcing problem in a city that refuses to invest in any other kind of infrastructure.

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

#462
post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite interestingly, the social aspects of urban sprawl was completely left out when designing post WW2 cities. When people think about beautiful cities, they would mention Venice or Paris or Rome. All these cities were built for 'foot traffic' which still works perfectly fine nowadays. In those cities, the elderly and children do have an environment to move around by themselves and socialize freely. When it comes to…

> still works perfectly fine nowadays. Rome is all but working perfectly fine, with commuter traffic locked almost daily by the tiniest fender bender happening on the highway around it Venice is likewise a mess, situation was so bas they built an highway to go around the existing highway that corrected it to the nearby areas, and the lack of easy mobility in the city center is fuelling a severe living cost inflation

That sounds like a car problem, not a problem with cities built for foot traffic.

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

#463

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of Brasilia.

Where people have no problem protesting in front of government buildings. That "people always protest at the densest areas of the city" is just that, correlation. The targets of their protests happen to be in those areas.

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

#464

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…

There's the catch: is everything you could possibly want really a short walk/transit away? or is the proliferation of top-end (for you) options in a sprawling city way beyond what can be crammed within walking distance of _your_ home? Are you satisfied with a few arbitrary restaurants within walking distance? or, car enabled, would you rather go 30 miles for that REALLY good place that would never be so close in a co…

I dunno about other places but I can get to everything within ~10 min bike ride in SF. I have a car too for longer trips but I really don't like driving and enjoy the side effect of free exercise. It's not for everyone, I'm sure people with kids and people in non mediterranean climates might find a more car-centric lifestyle more comfortable

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

#465
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively." No way. You do not have the right to arbitrarily lock down traffic for some arbitrary reason. Wait until Trump supporters lock down traffic in LA all day because they legitimately believe the 'election was stolen'. You can protest in the park or city square or somewhere where it doesn't stop a…

You definitely get to supress infrastructure when you have enough people willing to protest. I don't get it, are you trying to imply that protests should have no disruptive effect? That is a good recipe for complete political dysfunction. Civil disobedience is based upon disruption. It is our right as citizens. Besides, if an ambulance or doctor needed to go through a protest, the vast majority of the time just askin…

"You definitely get to supress infrastructure when you have enough people willing to protest."

No - you don't.

This is illegal, and it happens only by virtue of force.

You absolutely have no right do do this - you just have he power to do it 'if you have enough people'.

So yes, if you have an aggressive mob, you can get away with illegal things, that doesn't mean it's lawful.

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

#466
post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"It's okay, the minor negative effects of that are never going to be more important than the ability to protest effectively." No way. You do not have the right to arbitrarily lock down traffic for some arbitrary reason. Wait until Trump supporters lock down traffic in LA all day because they legitimately believe the 'election was stolen'. You can protest in the park or city square or somewhere where it doesn't stop a…

> Wait until Trump supporters lock down traffic in LA all day because they legitimately believe the 'election was stolen'. Good for them? That's a valid protest. You don't have to stay out of the way in the free speech zone. (Not to say that separation is never appropriate, but not most of the time.)

"That's a valid protest."

It's valid to protest things which are not true?

So we can block traffic in LA to raise awareness that 'Aliens are coming'?

No - absolutely not.

Your arbitrary definition of what you consider to be a 'valid protest' is not relevant.

You 100% do not have the right to block highways under any circumstances. Full stop.

You can of course, block highways if you use force to do it, i.e. by amassing such a large, unlawful group so that 'nobody can do anything about it' - which is of course illegal and completely trampling other people's basic rights.

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

#467

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…

To safely "do anything with their kids" a car is very useful. Depending on the ages of the kids... Kids need to bring stuff. That could be hockey equipment, a drum set, or a clean playpen. Kids wander off if not contained. A kid may get off a subway at the wrong stop, lost in the crowd, along as the rest of the family continues on down the line. A kid may fall onto the tracks. Kids should be kept from licking public…

Sounds like some paranoid parenting that seems to be in style right now. In Tokyo kids take the subway by themselves as young as age 9. In denser cities the density helps in that other people help socialize/watch your kids and they can bike around to their friends place when they are older. As someone who grew up in a denser area, then moved to a sprawly suburb where you were dependent on your parents for getting you around, and lack of public space made activities revolve around consumerism, I greatly preferred the dense area.

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

#468

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…

To safely "do anything with their kids" a car is very useful. Depending on the ages of the kids... Kids need to bring stuff. That could be hockey equipment, a drum set, or a clean playpen. Kids wander off if not contained. A kid may get off a subway at the wrong stop, lost in the crowd, along as the rest of the family continues on down the line. A kid may fall onto the tracks. Kids should be kept from licking public…

As a lifelong car-free European this almost reads like a parody, although I understand how you might get accustomed to a mindset like that.

I neither want nor need to be a taxi driver for my kids. From the age of seven they have been perfectly capable of getting to school, orchestra practice and sports by themselves using the subway, local trains and buses. The drum kits and equipment can be stored on location, and whatever they need to carry (the cello is heavy) builds strength or can be wheeled.

At their age, back in the day of no smartphones, if I got lost in the city I could ask any adult for help, and they would be delighted to help me.

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

#470

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't get your produce fresher if you are walking, unless the current temperature just happens to be a few degrees above freezing. In much of the USA, your produce would freeze and thus become mush. In much of the USA, temperatures well above 90 degrees would wilt your produce. Also, all your frozen food would be ruined.

Err, no? I live in Montreal, I've carried produce and other kinds of food by bike or by walk in -30C to +40C weather. It doesn't take so long that your food becomes damaged. If you're carrying frozen food, we have bags with insulation and reflective foil on the inside. Put your frozen food there and even in +40C weather it will take much more than 15 minutes to thaw. Besides, buses and obviously the metros are acclim…

It's remarkable to see people so detached from their natural origins to believe produce will freze or spoil when extracted from the supermarket and exposed to the outside world for a few minutes. Unless you are living at the North-Pole and need to walk more than half an hour in arctic blizzards, there is physically no way your food can freeze on the way back from the supermarket.

Food grows outside, in direct sunlight, exposed to scorching heat or near-freezing temperatures. Most of the plant based food is still living in the shelf when you purchase it, and has imune systems to fight-off bacteria and the like that would otherwise colonize it. The only concern are products of animal origin in the heat, but even the most sensitive like refrigerated fresh fish, still needs at least a few hours in hot weather before they can become problematic.

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