cool, moving to your place asap and setting up a basketball hoop in your living room
― swaghand (dayo), Friday, 13 April 2012 15:01 (twelve years ago) link
(I still miss that room, even though the bedrooms were tiny)
― an independent online phenomenon (DJP), Friday, 13 April 2012 15:02 (twelve years ago) link
good series of articles:http://www.slate.com/articles/life/walking/2012/04/why_don_t_americans_walk_more_the_crisis_of_pedestrianism_.html
― iatee, Friday, 13 April 2012 17:59 (twelve years ago) link
college dorm rooms are on the way out, all the newer buildings are apartment-style
― mh, Friday, 13 April 2012 23:40 (twelve years ago) link
thx for the articles iatee. they make for a great read and make me miss walking even more. i hate that i moved from basically one of the most walkable cities in the world to one where you can't do anything without a car.
― Jibe, Saturday, 14 April 2012 08:04 (twelve years ago) link
where do you live now jibe? you used to live in paris, right?
― iatee, Saturday, 14 April 2012 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
yup. went from paris to kuala lumpur. where everyone uses a car and jokes that if you see someone walking, it has to be a tourist.
― Jibe, Sunday, 15 April 2012 04:29 (twelve years ago) link
ah yeah that place is supposed to be a nightmare
― iatee, Sunday, 15 April 2012 05:46 (twelve years ago) link
well living here's not that bad, but without a car, which is my case, you're helpless. even with a car you can go everywhere but you'd still get to taste the joys of traffic jams all the time. i feel like this is totally the kind of city you'd love to hate iatee !
― Jibe, Sunday, 15 April 2012 12:41 (twelve years ago) link
http://bettercities.net/article/wow-study-says-dc-streetcar-could-add-10-15-billion-value-14461
― dayo, Monday, 16 April 2012 23:50 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2012/04/17/_.html
― iatee, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 18:02 (twelve years ago) link
if the second largest city doesn't fit your premise, best not to mention it
― buzza, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 18:10 (twelve years ago) link
LA is quite walkable it's just enormous
― iatee, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 18:11 (twelve years ago) link
in any case author cited the 'top three cities on walkscore' not 'the three biggest cities in america'
― iatee, Tuesday, 17 April 2012 18:14 (twelve years ago) link
Huh, never would have occurred to me that Paterson NJ was one of the most walkable cities, but when I think about the times I've been there, it kind of makes sense.
― i don't believe in zimmerman (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 17 April 2012 18:15 (twelve years ago) link
from the slate articles on walking
The truth is there are relatively few places in America that today would pass what architect Hal Box has dubbed the “Popsicle Rule”—“a child must be able to walk safely from home to buy a Popsicle within five minutes.”
when I visited china as a kid, I used to walk to the front entrance of the apt complex my relatives lived in and buy popsicles from the popsicle dude within 5 minutes, it was great, unlimited popsicles within 5 minutes
― dayo, Thursday, 19 April 2012 11:54 (twelve years ago) link
Oddly enough, a lot of northeast NJ is pretty walkable. I grew up in a small town 35 miles east of NYC and you could walk pretty much everywhere ... I'd walk down the street to the German deli to get kaubonbons, to school everyday, and downtown to get thrown up against a wall by an angry Puerto Rican kid. Being able to walk out the door and have adventures all day was such a big part of childhood I can't imagine what it's like to be a kid and trapped in your home because you need to drive everywhere.
― Spectrum, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:28 (twelve years ago) link
That's what bikes are for.
― how did I get here? why am I in the whiskey aisle? this is all so (Laurel), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:29 (twelve years ago) link
http://blackamericanmoney.com/blackbloggers/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/d25d3a6b450pk011811.jpg
― i love the large auns pictures! (Phil D.), Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:41 (twelve years ago) link
kids in the suburbs my parents live in don't ride bikes anymore, they ride razor scooters with gas engines
― dayo, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:42 (twelve years ago) link
as a former kid, that neighborhood sounds awesome.
― pplains, Thursday, 19 April 2012 14:46 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.tnr.com/blog/the-avenue/102753/why-regions-fail-zoning-extractive-institution
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:17 (twelve years ago) link
That's very interesting
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:20 (twelve years ago) link
That article fails to make any clear distinction between and all zoning laws as a broad category, and a few, very particular types of zoning laws which tend to segregate neighborhoods by income. Removing all zoning laws would create chaos of a sort that no city could cope with or plan for. Hatred for zoning ordinances is just another stalking horse for extreme libertarianism, ime.
― Aimless, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
If I know iatee at all, I think what he's taking out of this are the evils of zoning laws that mandate such large lots and low population density.
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:38 (twelve years ago) link
Those are fine if you want the land to remain agricultural but for mere residency purposes, smaller lots would be better from both an environmental and a poverty point of view.
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:39 (twelve years ago) link
Also I have to guess he objects to zoning that keeps even light commercial uses out of residential areas? Or recreational use? Because people that want to live on several acres of land don't want a store or restaurant next to them, either, even though it would be walkable and maybe enriching and good for everyone.
― how did I get here? why am I in the whiskey aisle? this is all so (Laurel), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:40 (twelve years ago) link
well, houston has no zoning laws and manages to operate w/o complete chaos (still sprawlly because of minimum parking requirements and otherwise poor planning)
I linked this upthread, an interesting comparison with french zoning: http://oldurbanist.blogspot.com/2011/09/friday-read-zoning-here-and-in-france.html
there's nothing more natural about american style euclidean zoning
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:43 (twelve years ago) link
there was a marco rubio quote I saw recently about how 'america is the only country in the world where you can start a business in your garage' - which is funny because really, america is one of the worst places to start a business in your garage. most forms of 'starting a business in your garage' are illegal.
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:53 (twelve years ago) link
I don't know about that in that there's a lot of things you can legally do to start a business at home, but very few of them are going to be in your garage/basement at this point in the game.
― mh, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:56 (twelve years ago) link
Pretty sure that are a host of countries where it would be easier to start a business in a garage than it is in the US.
― L'ennui, cette maladie de tous les (Michael White), Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:58 (twelve years ago) link
literally the only country on earth that allows commerce of any kind
― goole, Thursday, 19 April 2012 16:58 (twelve years ago) link
If they only had more garages in Africa, the locals would have a lot more businesses.
― mh, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
there's no 'at this point in the game', mh. you can't turn your garage into a restaurant or a small store even when there's nothing comparable in the neighborhood and they'd do well - even in nyc.
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:02 (twelve years ago) link
mmm, holding out Houston as a desirable model for the nation's cities is not a winning proposition, imo.
― Aimless, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
do you think that was what I was attempting to do?
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:03 (twelve years ago) link
lol
I think the "start a business in your garage" is a non-starter because that was when people MADE THINGS that they would then sell elsewhere. Nobody ever started a store or restaurant in their garage, silly.
The thing is that at this point most things that people can make and sell as a small or start-up business either have a limited market or are intangibles like software. You could definitely make shit that is sold on etsy or whatever in your garage.
― mh, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:10 (twelve years ago) link
rather the 'start a business in your garage' was a non-starter because when people 'made things' there was a concern about your neighbor building a factory next to the local school. but anything
there is still demand for commercial and retail space, there are still restaurants and stores and offices in your city. but you can't turn your garage into one, and you can in paris. even if you are just working alone as a start-up, there are constraints to what you can do:
http://www.sba.gov/content/zoning-laws-home-based-businesses
― iatee, Thursday, 19 April 2012 17:51 (twelve years ago) link
er ignore the 'but anything'
I do have to say though, of all camden's woes, the fact that it's more expensive to move out of it seems to be... not the top of the list.
― s.clover, Thursday, 19 April 2012 18:24 (twelve years ago) link
― how did I get here? why am I in the whiskey aisle? this is all so (Laurel), Thursday, April 19, 2012 7:29 AM Bookmark
Except where I grew up it was several miles and 500 feet uphill to anywhere.
― hologram ned raggett (The Reverend), Thursday, 19 April 2012 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
Hm yes, that is a problem. It was 3-5m for us to get anywhere, but it was v moderate terrain.
― how did I get here? why am I in the whiskey aisle? this is all so (Laurel), Thursday, 19 April 2012 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
Overheard while walking through Union Square Park, said by man on phone: "Is he ad-DIC-ted to SPRAWL?!"
― how did I get here? why am I in the whiskey aisle? this is all so (Laurel), Friday, 20 April 2012 22:16 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2012/04/invention-jaywalking/1837/
― iatee, Tuesday, 24 April 2012 21:10 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.spatialeconomics.ac.uk/textonly/SERC/publications/download/sercdp0103.pdf
was this the thread where I was arguing against homeownership? probably.
― iatee, Friday, 27 April 2012 23:03 (twelve years ago) link
4 u iatee
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K9e4b6HldXE/T22tiWXHi2I/AAAAAAAACIA/d8yYJByf2n0/s1600/worlds-population-concentrated.png
― booblights and the eternal frustration (how's life), Sunday, 6 May 2012 12:54 (twelve years ago) link
I want them to add Manila to that
― mh, Monday, 7 May 2012 14:41 (twelve years ago) link
When I see stuff like that I always wonder how they're defining metropolitan areas. Is Paris really ten times (or more) the density of Houston?
― nickn, Monday, 7 May 2012 22:25 (twelve years ago) link
I moved to the suburbs many years ago after years and years of extreme environmentalism. I feel horrible about some of it...big houses use so much energy and you use way more water (you become obsessive about cleaning) and throw more garbage out. Also use way more chemical crap in and out of the house.
On the other hand I am closer to nature. You eat less take-out and cook more because you have the space. I also thing that principles are important, when you take care of your house or garden or local park it is a good discipline and there are psychological intangibles to having more nature in your life.
Also young children learn to appreciate nature at parks or in their backyards, very dense urban areas are not always the best place to teach kids respect for the ecosystem.
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Bulgarian Tourist Chamber (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 19 May 2012 15:10 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/05/why-you-pay-more-walkable-neighborhoods/2122/
― Mordy, Tuesday, 29 May 2012 01:57 (twelve years ago) link