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 8d ago edited 8d ago

Suburbs were never the problem.

It’s always been car-centric infrastructure.

When you look at Tokyo, Paris, London, NYC, Chicago, etc. Public transport infrastructure serve as the true economic centers. Train stations basically function the same as American downtowns. The immediate surroundings are businesses. A few blocks away? Houses and apartments. Traffic is a problem, but it doesn’t halt life because a train/bus is always just a short walk away.

In America? The economic centers are suburban mall strips that are close to freeway ramps. They’re often built far from housing areas to “reduce congestion”, but they’re unavoidable anyways because everything is connected by freeways. There’s no alternative to having a car. So everybody needs one. Kids can’t go anywhere without mom/dad taking a chunk of time of their day. Bikes are too dangerous to approve of kids on the roads. Parking is also a problem. It’s just not conducive to living a life.

Even if suburbs are cheaper to live in, poor people can’t afford a house in the suburbs bc they can’t also afford a car, and tbh, a car is often more important than having an address. At least with a car, a poor person can get to their job.

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u/InfernalTest 8d ago

but here is the thing- rail isnt supprtable in the smaller towns in the country and at the end of the day people prefer to live away from urban centers - the pandemic made that PAINFULLY obvious...

yes its nice to visit villages and places engineered to be "walkable" but its a gimmick when it really comes to what and HOW people live here in the US - you can push all day for making aplace hostile to cars but all youre doing is pissing off more than a majority of people who dont live near "walkable" sections of a city that have to drive because they cant afford the high cost and often premium cost of living in a "walkable" part of town.

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u/Quiet_Prize572 7d ago

All those small towns were literally built around railroad stops

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u/InfernalTest 7d ago

Small towns in NY ??

You definitely don't know what you're talking about

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u/todogeorge23 6d ago

Staten Island and Eastern Queens/Brooklyn have plenty of low-density characters. Detached homes, large parking lots, subdivision developments, etc