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Old 06-13-2015, 03:02 PM
 
Location: New Albany, Indiana (Greater Louisville)
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I like how American towns and cities were built in the early 1900s. Sparse enough to accommodate cars and have big yards but dense enough for walking. Urban planning didn't get out of hand until the 1970s. I am moving into a 1950s era neighborhood, would love to retire in a Victorian setting in a small town so losing a driver's license won't mean being sub human.
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Old 06-13-2015, 04:26 PM
 
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Actually many American cities tried to emulate European cities, think Boston, New York or DC. San Francisco too.
Some other American cities like L.A became cities because people kept moving in but the people moving there never wanted to live in an urban place and so they became sprawly and very unurban.
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Old 06-13-2015, 09:04 PM
 
Location: Gatineau, Québec
26,765 posts, read 37,688,818 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryever View Post
Actually many American cities tried to emulate European cities, think Boston, New York or DC. San Francisco too.
Some other American cities like L.A became cities because people kept moving in but the people moving there never wanted to live in an urban place and so they became sprawly and very unurban.
LA is primarily built the way it is because the car was the dominant mode of transport in its founding era.

It is not really because the people moving there had a unique mindset.
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Old 06-13-2015, 09:48 PM
 
401 posts, read 646,468 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Acajack View Post
LA is primarily built the way it is because the car was the dominant mode of transport in its founding era.

It is not really because the people moving there had a unique mindset.
L.A had a urban center in the early 1900s, if people moving to L.A wanted to live in a city, LA would've remained dense around its downtown. Instead single family houses were built from the mountain to the sea and the once nice downtown was deserted, mostly because people moving there wanted to escape the city lifestyle back east

The car became the dominant mode of transport also because of that suburban mindset.

That mindset is still there, LA is full of people fighting against any new urban development.
The car didn't impose itself on people, people wanted the car to satisfy their lifestyle.

Now that's what I think, you don't have to agree with me.
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Old 06-13-2015, 09:56 PM
 
520 posts, read 529,017 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryever View Post
L.A had a urban center in the early 1900s, if people moving to L.A wanted to live in a city, LA would've remained dense around its downtown. Instead single family houses were built from the mountain to the sea and the once nice downtown was deserted, mostly because people moving there wanted to escape the city lifestyle back east

The car became the dominant mode of transport also because of that suburban mindset.

That mindset is still there, LA is full of people fighting against any new urban development.
The car didn't impose itself on people, people wanted the car to satisfy their lifestyle.

Now that's what I think, you don't have to agree with me.
No youre right. Everybody really has always wanted the bungalow away from the city. Thats how the Hollywood Hills were developed. Movie stars and their mansions in the hills. Then the subdivisions, then the valley, etc
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Old 06-13-2015, 10:05 PM
 
Location: Baltimore
684 posts, read 998,572 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryever View Post
Actually many American cities tried to emulate European cities, think Boston, New York or DC. San Francisco too.
Some other American cities like L.A became cities because people kept moving in but the people moving there never wanted to live in an urban place and so they became sprawly and very unurban.
Where I live looks pretty European even my European friends from school says this look just like paris in Mount Vernon

Quote:
Originally Posted by censusdata View Post
I like how American towns and cities were built in the early 1900s. Sparse enough to accommodate cars and have big yards but dense enough for walking.
We have those to Roland Park, Guilford, Arcadia, etc

Last edited by Northernest Southernest C; 06-13-2015 at 10:37 PM..
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Old 06-13-2015, 11:55 PM
 
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This looks like Bastille in Paris indeed


I disliked Baltimore when I went there but you can tell the european influence.
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Old 06-14-2015, 03:47 AM
 
349 posts, read 485,314 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Randal Walker View Post
Or conceivably copy the urban styles of other traditions? Maybe those of Asian cultures?

But in general, yes, the character that comes from history/time would be lacking. And as Jane Jacobs pointed out, for a vibrant urbanism you need some older buildings, ones that are already paid for; new construction tends to fill with chains, because small or new businesses/nonprofit endeavors cannot afford the rent.

If starting fresh, a fairly vibrant urbanism would be the result of long term cultivation; I suspect that it would take a human lifetime to achieve that, and a sense of history would still be quite limited.

Perhaps a rough/unrefined version of urbanism could be achieved on a shorter time scale-I am thinking of TODs (Transit Orientated Development).
Jacobs was saying things that we're only now starting to 'realise' back in 1960, when the whole auto suburban boom was really picking up...neighbourhoods and urban communities really are like eco-systems, they take time to develop. Asian style density is similar but generally more modern, since with a few exceptions there were few large Asian metropolises until recently.
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Old 06-14-2015, 01:01 PM
 
2,327 posts, read 2,899,029 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Northernest Southernest C View Post
Where I live looks pretty European even my European friends from school says this look just like paris in Mount Vernon
Now, if you could just get the crime levels down to European levels and get rid of the slums and poverty Baltimore might actually not be such a bad city.
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Old 06-14-2015, 04:23 PM
 
30,856 posts, read 36,763,909 times
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As an American who lives in an urban, walkable downtown neighborhood of a mostly suburban city, I can understand completely why some people would not want to live the urban lifestyle.

Bottom line: We have a larger percentage of trashy and inconsiderate people who make such living unpalatable. These folks have no respect for basic stuff (noise, etc.). I had a homeless camp right across the street from my apartment building for the last 6-8 months that they only just cleared out a few days ago (tents and mattresses on the sidewalk, dogs barking, someone drinking a beer on the building steps at 9 AM. I could go on and on....). And this was right behind City Hall in San Jose, California, an affluent, low crime city by American standards.
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