Of course, it is easy to go too far with these analogies. Even at their most strident, new urbanists and smart growth advocates do not enjoy anything like monopoly of power than accrued to Communist leaders. And also, not all the ideas of new urbanists, and even the creators of the , are without merit. The ideas of walkability, close access to amenities and services, are adoptable even in privately planned, suburban developments. But the dangers of placing ideology before what people prefer are manifest, whether in 20th Century Russia or America today.
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Also, as those who designed Paris readily admitted, wide boulevards running at an angle to the normal street grid make it easier for a few strategically placed troops with cannons to control movement about the city.
to post comments on Thu, 01/22/2015 - 08:32.The current equivalent is drones and internet data mining - Conservatives worry about Big Government, liberals worry about Corporate America, but they're one and the same. If you don't think drones are (or soon will be) monitoring your house in the suburbs you're not paying attention.
to post comments on Wed, 01/21/2015 - 16:02.
Ironically now that Russians have been flocking to driving since they had the freedom to do so, these street networks are better than what an entire city that is a "TOD" could have been expected to be.
I noticed in a UN report on cities street network intensity, that Moscow and Auckland NZ have approximately the same street network intensity. At the bottom of the pack, admittedly, and to Auckland's shame; but you will get what I mean.
to post comments on Tue, 01/20/2015 - 22:47.I do marvel at how Las Vegas builds exactly the same massive concrete tower blocks, puts in some tacky carpet and wall paper and faux Italian tchotchkes and suddenly it's a capitalist consumer playground. It's the same exact crap architecture. What's the big diff? You think any of those buildings were lovingly hand crafted to last for centuries? Been to Atlantic City lately? Feh!
On a similar note, have you been to a Costco or Walmart in recent years? It looks like the Pavilion of Economic Achievement in there. I'm just sayin'. Ugly centrally planned concrete bunker architecture is universal. All the empires love it.
to post comments on Wed, 01/21/2015 - 16:16.
I also recommend to everyone, Alain Bertaud's papers "The Cost of Utopia" and "Cities Without Land Markets".
The intentions stated in the article above were never remotely realised, as growth was provided for by adding taller and taller apartment blocks further and further away along radial rail routes, resulting in greater and greater inefficiencies of average travel time and expense.
But ironically, even in dense cities with functioning land markets, average commuting times tend to be outliers on the high side. It is a total myth that many people at all in, say, Hong Kong, catch an elevator down to the ground floor, stroll along the road a bit, and catch an elevator back up to their job. Their average commute time (one way) is 47 minutes. Tokyo and London are similar outliers. There are no such outliers among lower density cities, contrary to the myths, propaganda and outright lies from the opponents of "sprawl".
Even in the UK's low but crowded and high density cities (5 times US densities on average) the average commute time is 50% higher than the US's average commute time.
“British commuters have the longest journeys to work in Europe with the average trip taking 45 minutes, according to a study. That is almost twice as long as the commute faced by Italians and seven minutes more than the European Union average…..”
The US average is 26 minutes.
There is obviously something inherently inefficient and distorted about urban land markets with strict containment of density regulations.
to post comments on Thu, 01/22/2015 - 09:03.First, some people really prefer living in a single family home with a front lawn and a back garden and would much rather drive a private car. Other people actually enjoy apartment living and would rather hop on a bus or train. To each his own. It's a big county. There's room for everyone.
Second, there's the question of top-down state planning and control that limits those choices. In Soviet era Eastern Europe the only buildings that were built were state owned apartment towers organized around public transit. This reflected the Communist ideology that everyone was equal like bees in a hive all working to build the Communist utopia. Single family homes with a garden were a manifestation of evil capitalist bourgeois values.
But let's examine the post WWII American suburb. It too is top down and centrally planned. Federal, state, and municipal zoning, building codes, and mortgage lending standards explicitly enforce single family home development and rigid separation of uses in order to maintain a very specific set of cultural and social arrangements to the exclusion of all others. Try and convert your single family home into a duplex. Illegal. Try and run a small businesses out of your home. Illegal. Try and build a granny cottage in your quarter acre back yard. Illegal. Try and convert a shop in a strip mall into a live/work situation. Illegal. There are even strict rules about how often you can have a garage sale. Car ownership is de facto mandated because no one can physically function in suburbia without one. This isn't an accident. It's by design. It's a myth that America is the Land of the Free where private property rights are sacrosanct. We're all very much limited in what we can do in our own homes - for the common good.
Argue about which values are better, but don't pretend anyone has a choice when it comes to conforming in either system.
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In this essay, I will describe my neighborhood, including its surroundings, people, and the memories that make it special. 2. Body: My neighborhood is located in a a beautiful area, and it is surrounded by attracting trees, parks, and small shops. It is a peaceful and quiet neighborhood, with very friendly and welcoming neighbors.
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Here is your short paragraph on My Neighborhood! We all live in a society and are all bound to a neighborhood. Neighborhood is very important and it does definitely have an impact on what we are and how and where we live in. Unless we are happy in living in a good neighborhood, we could not get to live peacefully. I too live in a great and wonderful neighborhood. It is very pleasant and has ...
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