Why don't N. American cities & towns try to emulate W. European cities & towns more? (HOA, living)
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New developments in London (and perhaps the rest of the UK as well) follow the following principles below. "Village life" is the aspirational lifestyle that middle-class Britons wish to emulate.
(1) Small and intimate (compact)
(2) Locally driven and locally responsive (the residents have a sense of ownership of their community)
(3) Unique identity
(4) Designed for social interaction (walkable, permeable to pedestrians, and has places for people to congregate)
(5) Functional (has retail, leisure, and service facilities)
(6) Mixed community (has range of age, incomes, employment vs residential)
One of the ugliest reasons why American cities are dysfunctional mega susurban sprawls have to do with the 50s and 60s civil rights movements.
As black families were starting to be desegregated and had green light to move to inner cities and to normal communities to pursue normal lives, white Americans flew out to the outskirts of the cities so that they wouldnt have to live with darker skin people, all this mass movement of people labeled white flight by race obsessed American society, led to the destruction of the American city and the birth of these massive suburban sprawls.
During the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, American cities laid in ruins, extremely dangerous, populated by mostly very poor minorities condemned to the cycle of poverty, and the whites terrified of even going there tucked away in these horrible suburban sprawls where you need a car to go anywhere.
I will never understand why are American whites so afraid of people with darker skin.
One of the ugliest reasons why American cities are dysfunctional mega susurban sprawls have to do with the 50s and 60s civil rights movements.
As black families were starting to be desegregated and had green light to move to inner cities and to normal communities to pursue normal lives, white Americans flew out to the outskirts of the cities so that they wouldnt have to live with darker skin people, all this mass movement of people labeled white flight by race obsessed American society, led to the destruction of the American city and the birth of these massive suburban sprawls.
During the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, American cities laid in ruins, extremely dangerous, populated by mostly very poor minorities condemned to the cycle of poverty, and the whites terrified of even going there tucked away in these horrible suburban sprawls where you need a car to go anywhere.
I will never understand why are American whites so afraid of people with darker skin.
Its funny but that is a lot of the reason why most Aussie cities expanded out, and the country was not very diverse at all at the time.
Some of what are now the most exclusive addresses in Sydney were once not much more than crime ridden slums at one point. In the early 20th century when Brisbane started rapidly expanding they pretty well put a total ban on high density housing to stop a similar thing happening here.
Still a step ahead. Care to share a couple of pics of these newly built neighbourhoods. I just want to see how they are like and if they can be compared in some way to more recent architecture on the outskirts of European cities
Its funny but that is a lot of the reason why most Aussie cities expanded out, and the country was not very diverse at all at the time.
Some of what are now the most exclusive addresses in Sydney were once not much more than crime ridden slums at one point. In the early 20th century when Brisbane started rapidly expanding they pretty well put a total ban on high density housing to stop a similar thing happening here.
Do you think people moved out to escape the new immigrants after the war (who were mostly southern European ) or to buy houses suitable for cars? My in-laws were immigrants, he initially worked for years cutting cane in QLD. When they settled in Sydney it was in Marrickville, as what they required was public transport as they did not own a car. Whereas my Anglo parents were proud of getting the second car and of my mother getting her licence. They also wanted to be near a beach as that culture was huge in those days. Not much to do on a Sunday when I was young if you were not religious other than go to the beach.
Places like the Rocks in Sydney were slums because they were close to the docks, the harbour being a working harbour in those days.
Do you think people moved out to escape the new immigrants after the war (who were mostly southern European ) or to buy houses suitable for cars? My in-laws were immigrants, he initially worked for years cutting cane in QLD. When they settled in Sydney it was in Marrickville, as what they required was public transport as they did not own a car. Whereas my Anglo parents were proud of getting the second car and of my mother getting her licence. They also wanted to be near a beach as that culture was huge in those days. Not much to do on a Sunday when I was young if you were not religious other than go to the beach.
Places like the Rocks in Sydney were slums because they were close to the docks, the harbour being a working harbour in those days.
I do not know really, in a modern context as you know very well my wife is a Korean Immigrant, and i really think that owning a large block of land with a stand alone house on it, is something alot of asian immigrants look for when moving to Australia, as its unachievable in a dense asian country.
Of course we are talking more modern immigration from my perspective rather than the post WW2 immigration, which was far more a Sydney and Melbourne issue rather than Brisbane.
One of the ugliest reasons why American cities are dysfunctional mega susurban sprawls have to do with the 50s and 60s civil rights movements.
As black families were starting to be desegregated and had green light to move to inner cities and to normal communities to pursue normal lives, white Americans flew out to the outskirts of the cities so that they wouldnt have to live with darker skin people, all this mass movement of people labeled white flight by race obsessed American society, led to the destruction of the American city and the birth of these massive suburban sprawls.
During the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, American cities laid in ruins, extremely dangerous, populated by mostly very poor minorities condemned to the cycle of poverty, and the whites terrified of even going there tucked away in these horrible suburban sprawls where you need a car to go anywhere.
I will never understand why are American whites so afraid of people with darker skin.
Three things.
1) it was the 1960s. Everywhere was racist back then. From the US to Australia to the UK to Canada.
2) America simply had substantially more visible minorities. Australia was 98%+ white around its cities. Canada was 96% white. The UK was 99% white. The USA was 75% white (1990). Places that saw hyper suburbanization were also way less white. Some metropolitan areas were like 50%+ non white. Cities, big ones, like Detroit and Cleveland and St. Louis and Philadelphia became less than 50% white by 1980. There was way more black and non-white folks in America than other countries.
3) 65 years later, what has changed? While the US has its race issues… lets not act like the UK absolutely loves its Indian/Pakistani and MENA migrants. Australia is also a pretty large hotbed for xenophobia. Its absolutely exists.
The US could just fit all these three anglo countries in (UK AUS CAN) three times and still have more people! Its an apples to oranges comparison that you are using to make “Americans” seem to hate darker people more than other countries lol. Like that would only apply to 55% or 192 million white non-hispanic americans.
Because we are not Europeans. As an American I want to live in a European like ambiance I will move to Europe, but I don't want to live in a European like ambiance.
The American dream is to own your own home. Condos and apartments are much more popular in Europe, but Americans prefer their own piece of land. I recently saw a small town in Europe that was surrounded by farmland, and then immediately went into 4 story condos/apartments. There were no suburbs, which seems bizarre as an American.
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