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Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

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Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#261

Post by habosa »

Sometimes I think Americans don’t know how badly they want this.

Americans will tell you how wonderful European cities are with their small streets and their public squares filled with great restaurants. They think we don’t have cities like that because we’re lacking some fundamental European-ness.

No. We just put cars everywhere. Cars ruin everything. Now you have wider streets. Louder streets. More dangerous streets. Far less foot traffic which means very low chances of discovering a new favorite place. You have lower business density which totally changes the economics of an entire neighborhood. Etc.

In this and so many other things Americans say they want what they see elsewhere but are uninterested in doing anything about it.

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#262

Post by dmitriid »

aix1 wrote: post #237
davidw wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cities are pretty adaptable, no need to build one from scratch. Look at how Amsterdam changed, or how Paris is changing now

To illustrate, here are some historic photos of Amsterdam: https://exploring-and-observing-cities.org/2016/01/11/amster...

And here's a video, "How the Dutch got their cycle paths" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBdf9jYj7o

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#263

Post by wanderingmind »

habosa wrote: post #261

Sometimes I think Americans don’t know how badly they want this. Americans will tell you how wonderful European cities are with their small streets and their public squares filled with great restaurants. They think we don’t have cities like that because we’re lacking some fundamental European-ness. No. We just put cars everywhere. Cars ruin everything. Now you have wider streets. Louder streets. More dangerous street…

I was going to write almost very similar comment. A follow up question will be how badly they want it and are they willing to give up their cars to have a walkable City and you would immediately see how many are actually interested in it

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#264

Post by pomian »

standardUser wrote: post #4

Add up the roads, parking spaces, parking garages, gas stations (not to mention auto shops, drive thrus and car washes) and the total urban footprint is a gargantuan 50-60% by many calculations. That's not automatically a bad thing, especially if you are a car, but all of that space creates massive buffers separating all of the other stuff that humans want to walk to. To make it worse, those buffers are far and away…

Pavement does not absorb rain water, and causes flooding. Pavement causes heating, and raises local temperatures. More pavement, the greater the additive effect. Pavement replaces vegetation and black soil. The results should be pretty obvious. Skipping the whole CO2 debate, and just look at that.

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#265

Post by loa_in_ »

wanderingmind wrote: post #263
habosa wrote: post #261

Sometimes I think Americans don’t know how badly they want this. Americans will tell you how wonderful European cities are with their small streets and their public squares filled with great restaurants. They think we don’t have cities like that because we’re lacking some fundamental European-ness. No. We just put cars everywhere. Cars ruin everything. Now you have wider streets. Louder streets. More dangerous street…

I was going to write almost very similar comment. A follow up question will be how badly they want it and are they willing to give up their cars to have a walkable City and you would immediately see how many are actually interested in it

The sunken cost basically almost doomed the world by now (fossil fuel industry) so there's no way America gives up their cars (for less)

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#266

Post by ethanbond »

loa_in_ wrote: post #265
wanderingmind wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was going to write almost very similar comment. A follow up question will be how badly they want it and are they willing to give up their cars to have a walkable City and you would immediately see how many are actually interested in it

The sunken cost basically almost doomed the world by now (fossil fuel industry) so there's no way America gives up their cars (for less)

Of course there is. Just get rid of parking and/or put up bollards.

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#267

Post by ganzuul »

wanderingmind wrote: post #263
habosa wrote: post #261

Sometimes I think Americans don’t know how badly they want this. Americans will tell you how wonderful European cities are with their small streets and their public squares filled with great restaurants. They think we don’t have cities like that because we’re lacking some fundamental European-ness. No. We just put cars everywhere. Cars ruin everything. Now you have wider streets. Louder streets. More dangerous street…

I was going to write almost very similar comment. A follow up question will be how badly they want it and are they willing to give up their cars to have a walkable City and you would immediately see how many are actually interested in it

European cities are overrun by electric scooters. It's not a big step. heh

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#268

Post by crispyambulance »

worik wrote: post #86
throw0101a wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I like my car and I like driving. There's a difference between having a car as an option as a form of transportation versus having it be a necessity .

Which is the whole point of designing cities so cars are not needed

Whereas Americans buy cars so that cities are not needed ! :-)

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#269

Post by strix_varius »

cletus wrote: post #147
throw0101a wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In this case Americans have chosen the [car-centric] suburbs in droves. What alternative do they have if that is all that is being built?

For the record, I'm not defending car-dependent living. I wish there were more walkable options in the US for people to live in (myself included). But there's an awful lot of copium in these kinds of threads that shallowly blame the lack of choice as to why American life is so car-dependent. Housing markets are extremely good at responding to consumer demand. Here's a good quantitative data point of people expressing…

While this suggests that people want more space in their homes, it doesn’t imply that they prefer car-dependent neighborhoods. That would only follow if > 2,000 sq ft precluded walkability.

I paid a large premium to own a home in one of the east coast’s walkable areas. Lot sizes here average about 0.15 acres, which is over 6,500 (single-story) square feet. Homes have front yards, back yards, off-street parking, gardens, trees, and still easily fit > 2,000 square feet of living space.

The dichotomy of “walkable vs comfortable” is a false one. There’s a middle ground between tiny high-rise apartments and sprawling McMansions.

Re: Surveys show Americans want more walkable cities

#270

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

wanderingmind wrote: post #263
habosa wrote: post #261

Sometimes I think Americans don’t know how badly they want this. Americans will tell you how wonderful European cities are with their small streets and their public squares filled with great restaurants. They think we don’t have cities like that because we’re lacking some fundamental European-ness. No. We just put cars everywhere. Cars ruin everything. Now you have wider streets. Louder streets. More dangerous street…

I was going to write almost very similar comment. A follow up question will be how badly they want it and are they willing to give up their cars to have a walkable City and you would immediately see how many are actually interested in it

If I didn't need it to get to work I wouldn't own a car. I hate them.
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