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Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

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Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#31

Post by digitalsushi »

unwind wrote: post #8
ttfkam wrote: post #2

Love the visualizations.

Yes, it was very beautiful. As someone up in the dark pre-wintery Sweden, it would have been awesome with some floating photos of each neighborhood too, to convey the feel of each a bit better. The 3D maps were initially very impressive, but photos would have made the various housing forms come to life even more, at least for me.

I agree it would have been more immersive but I believe real photos would distract from the information they were conveying; their use of color coded building shapes was an easy way for me to follow along with the points their graphs were making. This presentation made me feel like I was walking into a dark corridor of a new science museum and feeling captivation

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#32

Post by galangalalgol »

capableweb wrote: post #12
jansan wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really should look up the meaning of "claustrophobia"

Maybe isolated is a better word then, for me they feel just about the same.

It is two sides of the same coin I think. People are horrible and wonderful, and museums and forests are both wonderful. If we invent spatial warps I want a front door in one of these big Galician high rises and a back door in a tiny house somewhere forested mountains meet the sea. I'm up for learning Galego.

Edit: I am aware green spain has places where forested mountains meet the sea, so I guess it could be a really short spatial warp, but there is something about standing somewhere you can sing as loud as you can, and knowing no one could hear you but the squirrels.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#33

Post by Havoc »

flagged24 wrote: post #15

I'm okay with these high rises so I can enjoy the quiet tranquility of rural Spain. Everytime we do stay in an apartment in Spain the lack of sound proofing really stands out. Perhaps even more so because everything is tiled, no carpets.

Possibly also cultural. Noticed that some cultures tend to talk louder.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#34

Post by bertil »

coldcode wrote: post #7

Great analysis. I wonder if Spanish town planners have different powers than we do in the US. Town layouts are generally historical, you get to today by the sum of decisions potentially made decades or centuries or even millennia ago. It's very difficult to change a town layout drastically.

Powers are comparable, but people’s expectations are dramatically different for many reasons:

* Climate: a shaded courtyard is pretty much necessary given the weather, for instance;

* History: not only most city centers in Spain were built in the Middle Ages, but they were also built in the Arabic tradition of having fountains, slated blinds;

* Economic: Spain grew economically a bit later than the US and the rest of Europe: 1980 rather than 1960, they had a similar wave of car adoption, but a decade after rebuilding the country after the Spanish war.

* Ecology: most of the country is pretty arid: there are beautiful vistas, but it’s not the place where one wants to stay out, baking in the sun, as much.

Spaniards want to be outside, but not in a sea of green grass. They much prefer a table in the shade.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#35

Post by pif »

rsynnott wrote: post #29
jeffbee wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest that the cause of the anglosphere housing crisis is a shared legal system, which sucks, and which is not practiced by anyone else.

Singapore and HK had or have close relatives of it, and don't have similar issues with density.

Well, do they have any alternative to high density?

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#36

Post by nerdbert »

rsynnott wrote: post #28
whalesalad wrote: post #3

Different strokes for different folks. I’m a very happy single family home dweller. Living in a dense city feels claustrophobic.

Yes, takes all sorts, and probably a lot of it comes down to what you're used to. Paradoxically I find being down the country claustrophobic; in truly rural areas (and in places with particularly poor provision for pedestrians, like most of the US, this often manifests even in outer suburbs) you can't really get anywhere without driving, and you may not be able to leave your house at all without driving (probably no…

Same here. If I can't walk to things I want to do and people I want to see, I feel like a prisoner.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#37

Post by tonyedgecombe »

jeffbee wrote: post #22
bitwize wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Anglosphere is more car dependent and more prone to NIMBY policies and housing shortages than continental Europe, because continental Europeans are more comfortable with density. Density is the solution to many land management problems.

I suggest that the cause of the anglosphere housing crisis is a shared legal system, which sucks, and which is not practiced by anyone else.

I think it's more about the political system, first past the post is looking archaic now. Not that proportional representation solves every problem but it would be a giant leap in the right direction.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#39

Post by mathieuh »

flagged24 wrote: post #15

I'm okay with these high rises so I can enjoy the quiet tranquility of rural Spain. Everytime we do stay in an apartment in Spain the lack of sound proofing really stands out. Perhaps even more so because everything is tiled, no carpets.

I live in northern ireland in an actual house and the walls are thin enough I could dip my bread into my neighbours' soup.

It is the number one reason I could never see myself living in an apartment, I'm very sensitive to noise and I get disproportionately angry at even low levels of unwanted noise. I'd be too worried about noise from neighbours.

Re: Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically

#40

Post by stetrain »

whalesalad wrote: post #3

Different strokes for different folks. I’m a very happy single family home dweller. Living in a dense city feels claustrophobic.

More dense construction in urban areas will probably help make single family homes affordable for those who want them.

I imagine people who own single family homes in nice suburbs are pretty happy about it, especially if they bought it when prices were half of what they are currently and are paying <3% interest.

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