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Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

economist.com

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Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#91

Post by gpderetta »

cosmodisk wrote: post #80
null_object wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I grew up in Stockholm and it too sadly is very, very car centric compared to Tokyo. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Paris and others are much better... I’m really glad to see this because I moved from central London to central Stockholm 20 years ago and no one believes me when I tell them I find this town more car-centric even than London. Away from the tourist areas, everything in Stockholm is arranged around t…

I lived in Stockholm for sometime before moving to London. There are a lot of parts in London where it's very easy to live without a car. I think the main reason is because it's essentially made of small towns that eventually all merged together. One is never too far from a fully functional high street and etc. Stockholm is built differently and having a car there makes life much easier even though the public transpo…

I have lived in london for the last 10 years (and counting). I don't own a car and I wouldn't want one to drive in London.

I live in zone 2 though. Probably things would be different if I lived further away.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#92

Post by have_faith »

bedobi wrote: post #64
xwolfi wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lived in Paris for years but wanted to go to my native Normandy 90 minutes away by car often, with friends (so train is uneconomical, and whatever): I love car free cities just as much as I love cars, but I feel they always miss the massive parking space at the periphery. Those have to be free one day, and truly understood and desired, so we can sort of mix the intra city metro/bike, the intra regional car, and maybe…

Making cars electric doesn't solve any of the problems with cars though. Cars, no matter the technology, are the problem. I'd much rather get rid of more or less all cars, permanently, period.

Cars create opportunities for working class people that wouldn't exist otherwise. You're advocating for removing mid to long range personal transportation entirely? what's the basis for this? I'm all for city neighbourhoods being less car centric.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#93

Post by dr_dshiv »

rootsudo wrote: post #66
albertgoeswoof wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a problem that America has generally? I.e there are areas where most people are scared to walk through in every city? I know many parts of the world have problems like this, but Europe doesn’t have many places like that.

Yes, it's a known problem. Lax law enforcement, most social services are also "downtown." While the commenter said they wont name the cities, it can be Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, etc. It makes it unpleasant, and if you do have to live in the middle of downtown or such, not only are you paying more - you have to for safety. Safety of a living place, safety of controlled entry, safety of a…

> especially once you bring up age, gender and race of the perpetrators

Is there sufficient social support for the families of young black males? If not, it may make sense economically to provide it, if it would make American cities functional again.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#94

Post by dagw »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #90
bedobi wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overwhelmingly, it's the Social Democrat party, not evil capitalists or car manufacturers, who are responsible for aggressively promoting cars and car centric policy and infrastructure in Sweden. This fact will grind the gears of both Swedes and misinformed Americans alike, lol.

Interesting, what sort of aggressive promotion of cars have the SD party being doing?

Just to note. The abbreviation for the Social Democrats in Sweden is "S". The "SD" party is the Sweden Democrats, a socially conservative right wing nationalist party.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#95

Post by cosmodisk »

gpderetta wrote: post #91
cosmodisk wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I lived in Stockholm for sometime before moving to London. There are a lot of parts in London where it's very easy to live without a car. I think the main reason is because it's essentially made of small towns that eventually all merged together. One is never too far from a fully functional high street and etc. Stockholm is built differently and having a car there makes life much easier even though the public transpo…

I have lived in london for the last 10 years (and counting). I don't own a car and I wouldn't want one to drive in London. I live in zone 2 though. Probably things would be different if I lived further away.

we left London last year after spending there 10 or so years. We spent the last 5 in a leafy part of South London. Commuting to work( before covid) was pretty easy with trains but also time consuming. Arrival of our child did change things and not having a car was putting limits on certain things by quite a lot. If I'd turn the time back, I'd definitely buy a car.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#96

Post by xenihn »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #93
rootsudo wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it's a known problem. Lax law enforcement, most social services are also "downtown." While the commenter said they wont name the cities, it can be Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, etc. It makes it unpleasant, and if you do have to live in the middle of downtown or such, not only are you paying more - you have to for safety. Safety of a living place, safety of controlled entry, safety of a…

> especially once you bring up age, gender and race of the perpetrators Is there sufficient social support for the families of young black males? If not, it may make sense economically to provide it, if it would make American cities functional again.

You'll have to get past the entities that profit off whatever problem(s) you are proposing solutions for first.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#97

Post by presentation »

danielrpa wrote: post #85
ekianjo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't really have real cities in the US = there are a few exceptions but most of the time it's just a very tiny center and a lot of people living away from the center. That's not what a traditional city looks like.

Why does the US need to have traditional cities? I grew up in a high density city overseas and I can see the appeal of both types of city. I personally prefer low density, car centric cities (obviously we need to finish solving the emissions problem from cars, but that's separate).

Except that’s not separate by the fact that there isn’t a solution and the planet is being destroyed as a result.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#98

Post by leg100 »

natded wrote: post #87

It lacks diversity.

Au contraire. You'll find all sorts of people with different ideas, interests, curiosities, tastes, desires, opinions, vices and virtues; the full gamut of humanity, as you might expect in a metropolis of near 40 million.

Yes, certain traits predominate as they do in any culture but if you go looking I'm pretty sure you'll find what you're looking for in Tokyo.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#99

Post by presentation »

bobthepanda wrote: post #69
sanxiyn wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think New York is fine.

New York is quite loud, which is not good for your hearing and causes a whole bunch of health problems. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/31/new-yor... I would also say that navigating the piles of garbage on the sidewalk is not fun, either.

This 100%, I measured the volume in my neighborhood in Central Tokyo 5 mins from the nearest station (it’s one of the more popular spots in the city) and it clocks in at 30dB or less. Compared to Manhattan where it’s deafeningly loud all the time.

Aside, NYC’s train system is, besides being filthy, unreliable, slow, poorly maintained, and a pain to switch between transit agencies, it’s also unfriendly to anyone who isn’t fully able bodied (the escalators and elevators are always broken and only present in a small fraction of stations), and neighborhoods are often designed in ways that lend places outside of the Manhattan core to be more dangerous and unpleasant than they have to be. Not to mention the usage of land in and around stations is very poorly used (the ~2 shops in Times Square station are a hilarious joke for what’s ostensibly the financial capital of the world), and any expansion of the system is prohibitively expensive for stupid political reasons.

But I suppose it’s still better than the transitless wasteland that is most of the USA.

Re: Tokyo: A big city that is also pleasant to live in

#100

Post by throwaway2037 »

cjblomqvist wrote: post #75
null_object wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I grew up in Stockholm and it too sadly is very, very car centric compared to Tokyo. Amsterdam, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Paris and others are much better... I’m really glad to see this because I moved from central London to central Stockholm 20 years ago and no one believes me when I tell them I find this town more car-centric even than London. Away from the tourist areas, everything in Stockholm is arranged around t…

Having 2-3 major automobile (cars, trucks, busses, etc) manufacturers in a country half (or less) the population of NYC probably explains why.

New York City proper (five boroughs) has a population of 8.4 million. Sweden has a population of 10.35 million. But yes, I agree with your sentiment about having high density of manufacturing in a particular segment will probably skew your policies towards it. This might explain why Munich is so rich, but has such poor mass transit compared to Berlin.

What surprises me more is that big Japanese cities like Tokyo and Osaka chose to build enormous rail networks (above and below ground) instead of wide, fast boulevards and raised expressways.

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