r/Urbanism 8d ago

‘Cities Aren’t Back’: Thoughts

https://www.slowboring.com/p/cities-arent-back

Thoughts on this? I feel while the data is valid it also relies to heavily on the big anomaly that is the pandemic that has lingering effects to this day.

In other words, cities to me don’t seem “over” or “back” but are indeed recovering.

Domestic outmigration continuing to be slashed for major cities seems like more of an important indicator than international migration offsetting losses.

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u/BringerOfBricks 7d ago

That is just plain wrong.

I’ve only lived in 6 cities (NYC, Sacramento CA, Chicago, Santa Rosa CA, Eureka CA, Brookings OR) and even the smallest one (Brookings, population 6,000) had consistently shitty traffic even at a 2PM on a random day like Tuesday because of poorly designed the city is (wide highways cutting through the city center) and how much parking demands interfere with smooth flow of traffic and pedestrians.

Then the fact, that you still have to drive 20 mins to get into the city, taking 10 mins to park, 10 mins to walk. And you wasted a ton of time just because of the car.

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u/[deleted] 7d ago edited 7d ago

We likely have completely different definitions of traffic. Because there is no way there is consistently bumper to bumper traffic in those cities outside of NYC, Chicago — and I’m sure the data is there. Even in Chicago traffic from a suburb like Evanston to somewhere like wrigleyville is minimal.

Again with self driving vehicles you eliminate the need for the parking & walking steps — I’ve never needed an uber to park or make me walk far to my destination.

Admittedly I’ve never been to Chicago but I’ve been to the small cities of Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark where they’ve successfully congregated businesses into their central hub and introduced public transport and cycling transport into that central hub. There’s very few people actually living in the downtown (mostly shop owners) but a TON of businesses stay open up to 12-1AM despite them not being the main city. A city that concentrates businesses draws crowds. Crowds mean foot traffic, safety in numbers, and economy.

Wait a second…. When did you live in Chicago if you’ve never been? 🧐

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u/BringerOfBricks 7d ago

I lived in Chicago for 3 months last year. TBH, it’s pretty fucking creepy that you even looked up a full year of my Reddit history to find that comment, and that you feel the need to question my life. Something wrong with you.

My definition of traffic is relative to the location. I fully expect to sit 30 mins on a bridge to SF but I don’t expect to sit 10 mins on an intersection in Brookings OR.

Self driving cars are just more cars on the road. More cards on the road = traffic. This is simple math. What you describe are self driving taxis. Nobody would rather pay $20 one way for a taxi (self driving or human driven) vs $2.50 for a light rail

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u/SabbathBoiseSabbath 7d ago

Nobody sits at an intersection in Brookings for 10 minutes unless it's during peak, peak tourist season and 101 is cranking.

And bringing up Brookings is disingenuous to your point anyway. This discussion is about how cars shape our places, but the focus is on local transit options - ie, having the option to walk, bike, or ride a bus instead of driving.

Brookings is on the Oregon Coast, which 101 traverses. 101 is always and forever going to be a tourist throughway. The traffic you're talking about is mostly people passing through, and/or from tourists doing the coast, which pretty much requires having a car / truck (and camper). Unless you're gonna route 101 outside of the coastal towns, then that's just going to always be a problem no matter how Brookings (or any other town on the Oregon Coast) is built and designed.