Modern Cities Suck, But They Don't Have To
Modern Cities Suck, But They Don't Have To
Sometimes I dream of towns where cars (+ noisy scooters and moto) would be banned 🍵
21Try walking on calm streets when no cars are around, it feels very liberating.
Or maybe don't if you live in the USA.
9Ban them in the busiest parts of cities and just rely on public transit (buses and streetcars), bikes, and walking.
5When I recently visited Amsterdam I was wondering why they have so many parked parks in the canal district. Another friend rented a car and we beat them anywhere in the canal district by walking.
They also have amazing bike infrastructure and trams. Seems like a good candidate for this type of idea.
Maybe one day in our collective dreams...
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In some places they only allow morning deliveries, then for most of the day cars are banned. This means shops can still easily stock up while keeping the area free of traffic when people are out and about.
Another strategy is not allowing through-traffic by installing modal filters. Which means you're only gonna drive in there if you actually need to go there. Basically the cul-de-sac idea from suburbia but without the sprawl that pulls everything apart and without restricting bikes and pedestrians to the same convoluted labyrinth.
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Modern cities don’t suck. Many pieces of architecture is a new miracle of engeneering, almost every street is a masterpiece of planning and organisation, …
Furthermore studies claim that people in cities are much happier than on the country side. So maybe a bit complaining about car noise is not that mentionable.
-32Nobody is criticizing architecture of buildings, but there is no way "every street is a masterpiece of planning". The only reason it could ever be considered as good is because they managed to direct traffic at all with how many cars there are. They wouldn't have to spend so much money and expert civil engineering of roads if there weren't so many cars to deal with in the first place. Being so good at managing car traffic is not actually a positive. It's just a less worse negative.
People in cities aren't going to be happy because of cars and road traffic management. If this claim is true at all it would be because people like being near people. There are social things to do where people gather. Personally, I am much happier on the outskirts of a city to get farther away from the chaos, but close enough to go there if I want.
Ideally there would be no cars in a city other than emergency vehicles and anyone going to a city with a car has to park outside of it and then take public transport inside of it.
17Nobody is criticizing architecture of buildings, but there is no way "every street is a masterpiece of planning". The only reason it could ever be considered as good is because they managed to direct traffic at all with how many cars there are.
Roads must be heavily engineered, to carry heavy loads. They are true wonders of what engineering can do. And we cannot do without these roads. They are needed for the military, Police, Ambulance, Firefighters, Trucks transporting goods, and public transport in many other forms. Bike lanes are part of them as well.
They wouldn't have to spend so much money and expert civil engineering of roads if there weren't so many cars to deal with in the first place. Being so good at managing car traffic is not actually a positive. It's just a less worse negative.
Car infrastructure is still easier to maintain than rail. This is due to infrastructure costs. Road costs less than rail (rail also need additional infrastructure such as extremely expensive subway stations and tunnels. Quite unexpected to most people, this rail infrastructure is much harder to maintain. Water pumps for subway systems, air systems included, structural inspections, and rail above ground needs repeated checking as well. Especially high speed train rails are sensitive to temperatures. In the summer they can get too hot to maintain high speeds. They need to be replaced much more frequent than asphalt streets,… There are good reasons, why car infrastructure is preferred by city planners. The versatility is unmatched.
People in cities aren't going to be happy because of cars and road traffic management. If this claim is true at all it would be because people like being near people. There are social things to do where people gather. Personally, I am much happier on the outskirts of a city to get farther away from the chaos, but close enough to go there if I want.
people are happier in cities at least that’s what studies claim. I myself also prefer the countryside.
Ideally there would be no cars in a city other than emergency vehicles and anyone going to a city with a car has to park outside of it and then take public transport inside of it.
No. Individual transport cannot be given up. It is the latest step in mobility development. And the only way is the way forward. Backwards thinking is for the naive idealists.
The future are electric vehicles that can drive autonomously. All cars would be parked on big, strategically well placed, huge parking houses. Whenever someone needs a car, the car drives to the person that requested it and brings the person to its destination. That is the future we are eventually heading towards to. And nothing will stop it. Billions were already invested into this goal, Mercedes and Tesla leading the way in autonomous driving.
Those investments I’ve already paved the way and there is nothing we could even do to stop it.
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