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Old 02-04-2014, 02:35 PM
 
Location: oakland / berkeley
507 posts, read 917,452 times
Reputation: 404

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High-density but low rise. It's often overlooked that you can have tremendous (100+k/sq.mi.) population density with 4-6 story buildings (Paris, Barcelona, Greenwich Village, Lower East Side, etc.). It's not even hard. Narrower, more pedestrian friendly streets, higher FARs by having less open space behind units, smaller units on average, etc. Far from Kowloon Walled City-dystopian nightmares, they are some of the most livable and desirable neighborhoods in the entire world.

Even in Houston and LA there are census tracts with 2 story apartment blocks hitting 50k/sq.mi, although I mention it just to illustrate the point; they're dense but not particularly walkable or transit connected.
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Old 02-04-2014, 04:05 PM
 
Location: oakland / berkeley
507 posts, read 917,452 times
Reputation: 404
Uptown Oakland also has really wonderful narrow streets, once you get past Broadway/Telegraph/Grand. I'm going to do a photo series and article on this soon.
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Old 02-04-2014, 04:07 PM
 
Location: SW King County, WA
6,416 posts, read 8,277,565 times
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Oakland the next Barcelona? Sign me up!
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Old 02-04-2014, 04:41 PM
 
Location: Oakland, CA
1,148 posts, read 2,993,088 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wooliemonster View Post
Uptown Oakland also has really wonderful narrow streets, once you get past Broadway/Telegraph/Grand. I'm going to do a photo series and article on this soon.
Yeah, please do that photo series. Yes, if you turn off the big streets, the streets become small. Within the larger blocks there are smaller blocks. It is a nice breakdown and creates a much more intimate and quiet environment within. I like the way the streets and blocks are laid out in Oakland. It has good bones.

Quote:
Originally Posted by 04kL4nD View Post
Oakland the next Barcelona? Sign me up!
Lol, funny.
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Old 02-04-2014, 05:08 PM
 
Location: oakland / berkeley
507 posts, read 917,452 times
Reputation: 404
At least Oakland has the right ideas. It just needs the demand.

http://www2.oaklandnet.com/oakca1/gr.../oak039049.pdf

(Basically form-based zoning -- nearly everything "flex" or "pedestrian district" mixed use, with reasonable 45-85 foot base heights and 275+ foot towers allowed with setbacks. Actually, this is probably a good model to just adopt uniformly nearly everywhere in American cities.)

(PS. I might start a new thread called Oakland Planning, Zoning, and Future for these types of discussions.)
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Old 02-04-2014, 06:34 PM
 
Location: Oakland CA
295 posts, read 461,405 times
Reputation: 169
I think one of the main reasons Oakland isn't getting high risers in downtown is the cost. Land values are similar to SF but rents are far cheaper, both residential and commercially. Its more economical to build shorter wood framed buildings than taller more expensive steal buildings. The city actually wants taller buildings.
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Old 08-18-2014, 03:56 PM
 
68 posts, read 94,861 times
Reputation: 79
SF is great. You are only going to be able to afford a studio and have to get rid of your car on $1800 a month in the city. But if you keep in mind that you will have the opportunity to quickly increase that income you will be okay. SF is great, but probably not a "forever" place.

That said, Seattle seems awesome. LA sounds terrible to me.
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