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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

#41

Now compare Manhattan.

DFW Airport alone has 80% of the total land area that Manhattan does, which is always an interesting little bit of trivia.

Well, no one was using the land at the time[0]. Everything has grown to touch DFW airport - I lived literally across the street from it in Euless.

Also, a lot of the land there is used by businesses like UPS, Fed-Ex, etc.

0. I'm sure someone was, but not very many people.

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

#42
post #4

I disagree with the notion that space is better used if it exhibits greater density of population. I don't believe it is very easy to drive in Siena, Italy. I also don't believe it is very easy to live under a highway interchange. To each space its own.

I bet it's also not necessary to drive in Siena, Italy

And yet it's necessary to drive in Houston.

Imagine judging Siena based on the ease of driving. That would be equally as arbitrary as judging Houston by its space allocation to roadway interchanges.

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

#43
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Siena, you walk.

In Houston, you drive. There is no reason to judge space in one place by the use patterns of a totally different place.

I have lived in walking cities, I prefer to have a car. I can enjoy my own music or podcast- my own schedule in the case of mass transit. I can also enjoy my own aircon and heat settings. I know lots of people want to bike/walk everywhere- that is just not for me. I think this comes up everytime someone talks about urban planning here. Some people just have no interest in living within high density areas- I am one of them. I like being able to use a telescope and not hear cars.

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

#45
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Siena, you walk.

In Houston, you drive. There is no reason to judge space in one place by the use patterns of a totally different place.

One causes destruction of our shared planet and personal debt

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

#46
post #7

The elephant in the room is the assumption that _everyone wants to be stacked on top of each other_. I do agree that designing cities around cars has ruined a lot of nice places though.

They don't want to be stacked, but they do want jobs, they want Chinese/Indian/French/... restaurants, they want daycares, they want schools, they want high-schools, they want notaries, and hospitals and clinics, they want shopping malls and delis, they want pharmacies and pawn shops, ...

It's almost like wanting 50000 people with different professions nearby means you have to live next to 50000 people. Until we discover teleportation.

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

#47

>Siena’s history dates back millennia. Houston, meanwhile, was founded in 1836. Every time I am made aware of just how young the US is, it blows me away. I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person.

There are cities in the US that are older than the US, by a large margin. Come to New Mexico and you'll see.

Obligatory edit: After COVID, please.

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

#49

>Siena’s history dates back millennia. Houston, meanwhile, was founded in 1836. Every time I am made aware of just how young the US is, it blows me away. I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person.

Just so you aren't in for a shock, "millennia" is including all sorts of neolithic stuff in the ground that could probably well be said of places in the US too. In terms of street layout, little is per-roman, and in terms of buildings, little is > 1000 years old. The most common thing would be more 17th 18th 19th century buildings (in increasing frequency), and if you go to parts of Massachusetts (and maybe Virginia)…

Colonial architecture is still pretty recent in the grand scheme of things. Native construction is far older and some of it is still standing. Oraibi, Taos, and Acoma are all close to a millennia old and there are structures in the US going back another couple thousand years like las capas or poverty point. If you head south into Mexico, you can find structures even older than that. There's nothing like gobekli tepe, but that's okay.

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

#50

>Siena’s history dates back millennia. Houston, meanwhile, was founded in 1836. Every time I am made aware of just how young the US is, it blows me away. I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person.

> I've never been to Europe, I would really love to go some day, but I can only imagine the feeling of actually seeing these really old places/structures in person. European cities are also relatively young. If you want to see old cities, you should visit the Middle East or China.

The city I live in here in France is about 2000 years old. That might not be as old as some of the cities in the Middle East but relative to most cities it is doing pretty well, non?
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