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Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

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Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#201

Post by buss »

Get involved in local politics. Go to community meetings. Learn who has power and start building your own. These kinds of things take years.

If you don't want to do that, at least start donating to local politicians who you agree with, volunteer for them, tell your friends to vote for them. Local races are often won by dozens to hundreds of votes. You can easily swing that. And don't focus on "highest value" work. Door-to-door canvassing is more important than any code you can write.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#202

Post by AntiImperialist »

I know that this is not the answer you're expecting and you've explicitly stated that you don't want to do, but the best thing to do is to move. By staying there, you're contributing to whatever is bad there.

If the problems could be fixed by individuals, someone else with much better reach and opportunity would most likely already have done so. I'm sure the problems are much bigger than what individuals or even big groups can do to fix, mostly because of the size of the city.

By moving away, to a better one, you're draining away resources that it feeds on. At some point, the city has to fix its problems... and with most people gone, it's very much likely that the problem becomes much more manageable for individuals and small groups.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#203

Post by matkoniecz »

Report to local government issues such as potholes, misleading traffic signs, bugs in traffic signs, illegally placed advertisements...

In my city (Kraków, Poland) it leads to fixes. It is important to remember that whoever maintains infrastructure is not omniscient and such reports are likely to be useful.

This one is likely to be useful in addition to other actions given your target.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#204

Post by LMYahooTFY »

dkrudy wrote: post #197
renewiltord wrote: post #183

Don't. Get out. Get powerful. There is a threshold effect. Unless you have a non-normative path to power (organized crime or powerful family or lots of money already), don't do it. What you're doing is the equivalent of trying to get strong by pulling a 500 lb barbell every day without moving it. It is not effective. Go somewhere where you pull the 100 lbs first and get it off the ground. Then move up. One day you wi…

Disagree. You're falling prey to savior complex, so instead you should "Get out and get powerful and come back to be a hero" Translation: Go make fuck you money and then change what you independently determine is important. You're wrong, because you'll have no idea what barbells to move when you come back, you'll just throw them around without purpose, like a meathead in a gym. Even so, not many people can move a 500…

This seems very flawed.

For one, OP didn't provide context but it's plausible they grew up/spent a significant amount of time in this city already.

It seems pretty clear that the GP was suggesting an alternative path to gaining influence/money/power, and it's not at all a given that 'getting your name in the record books' 'won't have a lasting impact'.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#205

Post by seveneightn9ne »

omosubi wrote: post #190
mybandisbetter wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to being a quality human in these ways, I'd recommend googling "tactical urbanism." That means: do quick, low-cost interventions in your neighbourhood, like painting a mural on the street, building flower boxes, or creating a pocket park. (Should probably get permission, but for some things, just do it). This all helps attract people to the street and builds a sense of ownership, which encourages folks to…

Is there any evidence that putting art in empty windows actually helps? i see that a lot and I always find it kind of beseeching. Similarly my neighborhood has been putting up murals as an attempt to spur business development and it feels like I'm being sold on the neighborhood all the time. here's a particularly egregious example: https://doc-0s-ak-mymaps.googleusercontent.com/untrusted/hos... It's frustrating that…

your shorturl doesn't seem to work

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#206

Post by bserge »

muffinman26 wrote: post #124
bserge wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny anecdote, two friends and I were sitting in a car in Eastern Europe in a rich neighbourhood (pretty much only VIPs and foreigners lived there). We had some business with an army officer and he was busy with something so we had to wait. About 20 minutes after we parked, an American woman comes and asks us what we're doing here and whether we need help. That was weird because no one in our country does this, ever…

I (an American man) would probably have asked if you needed help but would never have called the cops. Long road trips are common in the US, so if someone is sitting in a car for a while my first reaction is "Maybe they're lost and the battery on their phone ran out. Should I ask if they need help with directions?"

Yeah, but this was in the city center, albeit on a pretty quiet street (surrounded by embassies and various government buildings). She seemed to want us gone more than helping us. I don't blame her, 3 people just sitting, talking in an Opel Omega is pretty suspicious by western standards :D

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#207

Post by RomanPushkin »

I tried to improve cities, and implemented open-source alternative to Uber (PoC, simplified, but works). I spoke to multiple people, community leaders, and even cities/state government (I am in US). The train is still there. I gave up TBH, and more focused on making a big buck for myself instead of improving the world.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#208

Post by 908B64B197 »

Retric wrote: post #88
burlesona wrote: post #44

The single best thing you can do is pick a neighborhood - not the whole city - and invest deeply. Get to know everyone in the neighborhood and understand what they want and need, then try to find ways to bring that. When you have a strong network of neighbors and a little bit of cash, you can ramp up investment by cleaning up dirty corners and getting the basic services that a neighborhood is missing. Here’s an examp…

I mean this in the most objective way possible. The risk with urban improvement is making the area more desirable eventually prices people out of the community. So, the real question is do you help the land or current residents? When you own property it’s seriously worth considering local improvements for several reasons, but it’s also easy to confuse the two. Further, if most people in the community own property the…

Honestly, I wouldn't worry too much about it when starting a project.

That's like worrying the infrastructure won't scale when you barely have enough users to keep the one server you rent busy.

Re: Ask HN: As a person, what can I do to improve a city?

#209

Post by Buttons840 »

dontbeevil1992 wrote: post #170
Buttons840 wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Too logical. Here's what non-owners might see: "The neighborhood is improving, things will get more expensive". Bad. "I have to move now." Bad. "This new neighborhood is worse than my old one." Only half true (they started at 3 and ended at 3), but perceived as bad .

or instead of dismissing people's grievances as illogical, you can skip the strawman phase and engage with the real issues as I and others have described here

The post I replied to logically argued that people are not harmed when their community improves and they are priced out and forced to move. (Note, I never claimed they were illogical, but instead that they were "too logical" Pure logic will not explain why people feel the way they do, because people are not always logical).

They then ask:

> Can someone explain what this description misses and where the harm comes from?

In answer, maybe no harm is actually done. But even so, people will perceive that they have been harmed. And in the larger context of this thread, that is why people are sometimes unhappy with their community being improved, because they believe it will price them out and harm them.

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