81–90 of 120 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not if you are living in a noisy and polluted location, which is the case for most people without a car, clichees aside.
Or just filled with so-called "night life" that so many people think they would participate more in if they lived closer. The novelty wears off after a few years and with kids it becomes more of an annoyance than anything else.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not if you are living in a noisy and polluted location, which is the case for most people without a car, clichees aside.
Or just filled with so-called "night life" that so many people think they would participate more in if they lived closer. The novelty wears off after a few years and with kids it becomes more of an annoyance than anything else.
Sure, I'm not out clubbing every night, but I am still better off in a walkable environment than I was before.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unless there are separate streets for pedestrians (which is basically non existent in US most of the time), not sure how you can have any city walkable without sidewalks.
I'm not talking about all streets in a given city obviously. Specifically in Japan, narrow streets with no sidewalks are omnipresent in neighborhoods, and they're still far more walkable than a typical US neighborhood street with sidewalks.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In the US, you'll empty your bank account and still get terrible service - you've spent money but received terrible care. Maybe things change if you can afford your own full-time doctor for 500k / year. Canada ranks above the US in every healthcare measure.
How/where? Is this actually a 'solid insurance is hard to get problem'? Neither myself or family (extended included) have experienced problems and we certainly don't have private doctors. The whole 'american healthcare bad/unaffordable' argument is something that I hear quite a bit on the internet, but pretty much never do in real life.
Like in many other things, the US is a country of extremes. At its best, the US health system is better than Canada's. At its worst, it's worse.
So it's pretty much down to whether you are a have or a have-not.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm not talking about all streets in a given city obviously. Specifically in Japan, narrow streets with no sidewalks are omnipresent in neighborhoods, and they're still far more walkable than a typical US neighborhood street with sidewalks.
Japan also favors smaller cars.
I would say the stress of completing day to day errands and activities here having recently moved to a “walkable neighborhood” has been detrimental to my mental health, since moving out of the car centric western side of SF.
It’s a fact that most of the commercial corridors here are at the bottom of the hill, which means climbing home. It only seems walkable here until you have to climb up 200 feet+ in elevation to get home with your groceries, and panhandled along the way.
And at night, the situation is worse. I have learned that PCP is the most popular drug of choice for the encampment that exists between my walk from Whole Foods to home, and that explains the insanity that comes from it with an almost nightly occurrence.
And even then, options for completing all of my errands locally are limited; for example we lack a full line grocery store in walking distance, among other needed businesses (like Walgreens) that have closed.
I have found that getting what I need without a car in SF is 10x more complicated than having a car, so I keep mine.
When talking about walkable cities, I would leave this off the list.
I am glad there is a growing enthusiasm for walkable cities in the US. It's something I've become very passionate about lately. For those that are interested in learning more about the topic, I highly highly recommend the City Nerd youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd . I find a lot of arguments for for walkability tend to be emotional or needlessly hostile towards car owners. City Nerd takes a much mor…
I see arguments that are hostile towards a certain type of car owner -- the entitled sort that can't stand anything less than absolute car dominance of the roads. The kind who's opposed to new housing or badly needed bike or bus lanes because it might impact public street parking. Hostility towards anyone who owns a car is rather more rare from walkability proponents. Not totally unheard of, but hardly mainstream.
For example, r/fuckcars is massive. A large subreddit might not be considered mainstream, but it does have massive reach. A lot of people see this as one of their first exposures to car-free communities and do not feel welcomed by it.
I think it's somewhat of an optics issue, but it is very hard to find walkability communities online that aren't using terms like "car-brain". I know that these terms are targeted at a certain type of car owner, but without being familiar with the car-free community this is not always clear and can be a turn-off to car-owners who may be curious about learning more.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reasonable people can disagree. My quite small yard in the burbs is my oasis with fruit trees, a garden, place for my dog to run, and a lovely place to sit and listen to birds. On top of this, we can walk to amenities and greet our neighbors on the sidewalk. If I lived in a soulless apartment block my mental health by contrast would be in the pits.
'suburb' and 'soulless apartment block' aren't the only choices. It's entirely possible to build denser mixed-use neighborhoods with less car-dependence without making them urban warehouses. THough typically this is not what we build, neighborhoods like that exist here mainly in places where they've grown that way over time.
I am glad there is a growing enthusiasm for walkable cities in the US. It's something I've become very passionate about lately. For those that are interested in learning more about the topic, I highly highly recommend the City Nerd youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/@CityNerd . I find a lot of arguments for for walkability tend to be emotional or needlessly hostile towards car owners. City Nerd takes a much mor…
Are they hostile to car owners or is it the car dependency enforced via city planning / infrastructure? I almost always see the latter but hear the former as criticism which is laughable.
I think it's somewhat of an optics issue, but it is very hard to find walkability communities online that aren't using terms like "car-brain". I know that these terms are targeted at a certain type of car owner, but without being familiar with the car-free community this is not always clear and can be a turn-off to car-owners who may be curious about learning more.