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How do you fix a stroad?

strongtowns.org

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Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#221

Post by cycomanic »

josephcsible wrote: post #203
scrollaway wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dislikes have little effect on whether a channel is recommended, only individual videos and the related videos to that specific one. Also to dislike a video you need to click it in the first place, which tells YouTube you potentially like content of this sort but the individual videos aren't up to your expectations so it's going to keep trying. As another poster said there is a way to get YouTube to stop recommending…

> Loving cars immediately must mean that his high quality, well researched content is "trash". Why is it surprising that people who love cars don't like a channel that basically says you're a bad person if you don't think cars should be abolished?

But nobody said that cars should be abolished. The arguments are that cities can (and should) be build for more than just cars. If you're saying content that advocates for more bike/walk centric cities feels like it's calling for the abolishing of cars to someone who likes cars, imagine what this sounds like to someone who likes bikes/walking you are essentially saying I'm not willing to give an inch to you because it's only my way. That's pretty much how you create polarisation.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#222

Post by moooo99 »

josephcsible wrote: post #203
scrollaway wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dislikes have little effect on whether a channel is recommended, only individual videos and the related videos to that specific one. Also to dislike a video you need to click it in the first place, which tells YouTube you potentially like content of this sort but the individual videos aren't up to your expectations so it's going to keep trying. As another poster said there is a way to get YouTube to stop recommending…

> Loving cars immediately must mean that his high quality, well researched content is "trash". Why is it surprising that people who love cars don't like a channel that basically says you're a bad person if you don't think cars should be abolished?

Have you ever watched anything more than one NJB video?

He repeatedly bashes city centric planning and is a huge advocate for alternatives modes of transport. But to my knowledge he never even implied such a thing. In fact he even shared some videos around driving in the Netherlands and how he still used cars in some circumstances

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#223

Post by trapexit »

trinovantes wrote: post #75

The Not Just Bikes youtube channel was quite the rabbit hole. It has convinced me that I really hate North American car-centric cities. It's a shame there's basically no country in the anglosphere designed for pedestrians like most European countries.

The Netherlands may not be an English-first country, but something like 95% of the Dutch speak English, a higher percentage than in Canada(!). In central Amsterdam, the default language may as well be English.

It is also surprisingly easy for Americans to relocate here if they are in a tech career (keyword: highly-skilled migrant) or remote-working/entrepreneurial (keyword: Dutch-American Friendship Treaty). It's even possible to keep paying an income tax rate similar to that of the USA for the first 5 years. Might even be a lower total income tax rate if you're coming from a high-tax state like CA/OR/NY (keyword: 30% ruling).

Some advantages: safety (both in terms of infrastructure and crime); affordable high-quality universal healthcare; efficient government bureaucracy; fast and easy travel throughout the entire country and to France, Germany and the rest of Europe; relaxed attitudes toward dogs compared to the US (generally off-leash friendly and dogs can go into most shops & cafes)

Some disadvantages: higher cost-of-living and lower salaries compared to the US; narrower variety of consumer products (food, clothing, etc.) available than in the US/UK; many say it's difficult to make Dutch friends, especially if you don't speak Dutch (though on the flip side, this effect makes it exceedingly easy to make expat friends); terrain is mostly flat; weather sucks compared to California; many find the Dutch language difficult to learn in spite of (or because of?) its similarities to English

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#224

Post by nraynaud »

labster wrote: post #135
pcmoney wrote: post #79

Has anyone ever put a picture of a stroad up as art/instagram etc like you see with downtown NYC, Paris, small european villages, shanghai, rural mountain towns, old downtowns in America etc? Of course not. It is the McDonald’s of city planning. Cheap, ugly, bad for you but also shockingly expensive once the medical/infrastructure maintenance bill comes due. Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesth…

Don’t believe this Imperial Tartarian propaganda. The stroad is the best road. Our urban architecture is the best ever. No one wants that old stuff any more, make it concrete and glass boxes arranged around a big ol’ stroad.

and the weird comercial buildings that look "welcoming" on the road side but actually the entrance is in the back, towards the car park.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#225

Post by princeb »

refurb wrote: post #176
adrianN wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People like their cars because the city design makes all alternatives comically impractical.

Nope. I live in a country with high quality transit and the first thing people buy when they can afford it is a car. Why? Convenience, flexibility, ability to haul a family. Cars certainly aren’t a requirement if you have good walkability and/transit, but given the choice many people prefer cars.

> Nope. I live in a country with high quality transit and the first thing people buy when they can afford it is a car.

I, too, live in a country with high quality transit and also got a car when i had a family and i could afford a car.

i have about 1400 km per year on it. having a car and driving it are two different things.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#226

Post by throwawaylinux »

vdqtp3 wrote: post #138
32kfjh23 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does someone saying that things could be built better come off as high level elitism? I’ve stayed in small European towns where they have the cultural amenities of an American city perhaps five to six times its population. Normal people can live good, healthy lives there. Normal people struggling to survive while driving everywhere with few healthy options in sight is a manufactured issue.

> overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo is elitism. Even if it's right, it's elitism.

You're on an elitist forum, you get what you pay for. Just because half the commenters here fancy themselves sharing the struggle of the working class does not mean they actually respect or care about the "trash".

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#227

Post by throwawaylinux »

pcmoney wrote: post #183
vdqtp3 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo is elitism. Even if it's right, it's elitism.

If our options are trying to remain status quo or becoming “elite” (as if thats a thing) well then I am not picking status quo. We should build things that inspire is what I am saying and yes I used a visual imagery of the least inspiring most tragically basic thing (that someone willfully chooses to become and do) that came to mind.

You think equating poor civil design to "poor white trash" is doing your part to change it? The only way you could improve things is to post this kind of garbage on your elitist internet forums and smugly deride anyone who objects? That is what is elitist.

Hope that clears things up for you.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#228

Post by varjag »

zionic wrote: post #160
dntrkv wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah they're so ugly that people fly in from all over the world to take photos there.

Ok? People fly into atlanta and go to the varsity, and it’s some of the worst food around. Tourism isn’t always rational.

It's literally the first time I heard Atlanta is a popular tourist destination, while pretty much anyone in the world is aware of cliche Paris and NYC skylines.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#229

Post by varjag »

sien wrote: post #136
32kfjh23 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does someone saying that things could be built better come off as high level elitism? I’ve stayed in small European towns where they have the cultural amenities of an American city perhaps five to six times its population. Normal people can live good, healthy lives there. Normal people struggling to survive while driving everywhere with few healthy options in sight is a manufactured issue.

When someone says : "Its the overweight, white trash, lower back tattoo of aesthetics." It completely comes over as high level elitism.

When someone objects to comparisons of taste, they insist that everythinn has essentially the same merit. Which is often hypocritical as they'd be rather found dead than with a lower back tattoo themselves.

Re: How do you fix a stroad?

#230

Post by mithras »

princeb wrote: post #225
refurb wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope. I live in a country with high quality transit and the first thing people buy when they can afford it is a car. Why? Convenience, flexibility, ability to haul a family. Cars certainly aren’t a requirement if you have good walkability and/transit, but given the choice many people prefer cars.

> Nope. I live in a country with high quality transit and the first thing people buy when they can afford it is a car. I, too, live in a country with high quality transit and also got a car when i had a family and i could afford a car. i have about 1400 km per year on it. having a car and driving it are two different things.

If you have high quality transit, you might also have "share" cars available, doesn't that come out way cheaper if you only use it so little?
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