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I remember how in some of the towns I lived in there’d be these old closed down diners in residential areas, usually near schools and fields/playgrounds. Small corner stores, too.
The old infrastructure is still there in places. Just hollowed out and left to decay.
Yes. The American suburb model is probably the worst of all options. And people who haven’t really lived other ways might not even realize how bad it is.
I never want to live somewhere car-first.
Remember that comic that shows two people riding bikes through a nice area, and one of them says like “if anyone proposed building this where I live I would kill them”?
Fucking obviously, yes.
The answer is yes!
Our north American minds can’t comprehend walking past ten or fifteen outdoor patios in the span of ten minutes on the same street, but we call it normal to spend 1 or 2 hours driving to a restaurants.
How often do I find myself driving between two stores within the same plaza/parking lot.
When you live in a area where everything is within walking distance of everything else, going out is trivial.
As someone who doesn’t like going out or meeting people, we’ve also ruined my experience. If I can’t walk everywhere in a city I at least want stars and bugs and birds and trees.
But the suburbs don’t have those things either. Literally the worst of all possible worlds.
Tree suburbs used to be very common, but now most new suburbs don’t even have these either.
Most stuff just looks like this now
I think Whittleton Creek in Hitman is a perfect image of one, but that’s also a game where NPCs can only walk, not drive.
Let me guess, too much work to maintain the tree and keep the street “clean”?
Yeah suburbs from before cars were invented are typically quite nice. I live in one and I quite enjoy it. And they were probably much better when the countryside was a short walk away and a network of streetcars connected the whole city.
Even then there’s hardly any stars.
He’ll yah, we the people some how let rich ppl and companies prioritize themselves over the individual families and communities. If you want to blame anyone RIGHT Fn NOW. Do so to your congressman, senators, mayors, your god dang elected leaders whom should be responsible by representing your community. Tell them by voting, tell them by creating new policies, tell them with your epidermis sticking out during town hall meetings…
…didnt ONLY voting get us into these types of problems in the first place?..
Yep, American-style suburbs are a cancer. If you want to create car dependency, anomie, isolation and despair, well, suburbs are very effective.
Yes, America did it wrong. Car focused culture by definition puts humans and animals and all other things as secondary. The result is isolating people first into cities then into suburbs and then into blocks before COVID kept us in our own homes. Alone. It’s nice to see the rest of the world doing well as America is fading.
We found this even within Canada. We were in Southern Ontario where its car centric and planners and developers just built roads and homes by pulling all the trees out and putting grass in. We often drove down to a coffee shop a few blocks away because the walk was dull.
Moved to Vancouver area and there is a transit system, and walkable cities. While its not like the endless plaza shown in the video, being able to walk everywhere and with beautifully landscaped areas (not to mention the natural beauty) gets us outdoors and enjoying it.
Vancouver is so awesome in this regard. We live in the west end of TO and it’s alright but Vancouver is something else. I feel like Montreal is better as well. We’ve gone city-vacationing to both a few times now.
Montreal for sure
Yeah, I can walk to everything I need in ten to fifteen minutes. The main boulevard most large boroughs is closed to cars and it’s a boon for local business as pedestrians actually stop in on random businesses where motorist do not, it has the added benefit of royally pissing off the car-brains from the cookie-cutter suburbs. Montreal needs to take bigger steps to expand its public transport and its winter culture as it acts like people don’t need a walkable city when it starts to snow, but it definitely beats every alternative in North America.
that comes with condensation sadly. Most of the apartments around those “patios” are probably smaller than this couple’s garage.
All cities are like that. Property prices and such.
There are of course larger properties further from the centre. Munich is large enough to have a metro system, so you can still live in a big house and go to the centre without having to drive, find parking and walk from there.
All cities are like that. Property prices and such.
my comment was based on the crumpled lives of many Parisian apartments. I don’t know what people get by downVoting as it is the reality.
I’m not here to defend car based suburban life. I would just like to see the couple in the video visit some of the apartments around those patios.
Unless you’re rich enough to buy an entire floor, you will lack space. Walkability comes with different kinds of prices.
A garage they don’t need because they can walk wherever.
i won’t be defending garages over 10m² city center apartments
Uh… so you’re not defending it, are you against garages? Or are you trying to say you’d rather have a garage than a 10m^2 apartment? And what do you mean by “comes with condensation”?
Or are you trying to say you’d rather have a garage than a 10m^2 apartment?
i don’t need a garage, i’m a cyclist. Can’t i choose neither?
And what do you mean by “comes with condensation”?
“condensed: Highly concentrated, or packed into a small space.”
Oooh I get it now.
