Why don't N. American cities & towns try to emulate W. European cities & towns more? (amusement parks, versus)

[jgn2013]

Density.

France is the 3rd largest nation in Europe by size AND is the 2nd largest in terms of population. The state of Texas by itself is about 10% LARGER than all of France but only has about 27 million people. France has almost 67 million people.


Think about how big Texas is in terms of size (slightly larger than France). The state of Alaska is 2.5 times LARGER than Texas but has a population of less than 800,000 people. Germany, which could fit inside Alaska almost 5 times, has 80 million people. The big cities in the U.S. are quite dense but generally speaking the country is still sparsely populated in many areas. Most tourists travel to NYC, LA, Chicago and Miami so their perspective of America is based on that instead of Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Utah etc.

[Minato ku]

It's either third in population and size or second in population and in size (depending if you includes Russia) but it can't be second in population and third in size.

France has the density of Ohio or Pennsylvania, it's not that densely populated.
There is nowhere in France where you can find the concentration of inhabitants like in the Northeast megalopolis.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Minato ku

It's either third in population and size or second in population and in size (depending if you includes Russia) but it can't be second in population and third in size.

France has the density of Ohio or Pennsylvania, it's not that densely populated.
There is nowhere in France where you can find the concentration of inhabitants like in the Northeast megalopolis.

Yeah, I find France pretty "roomy". Certainly moreso than England.

[forgotten username]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I've always found it interesting that you say that you've lived in Toronto, but you never got to Montreal/Quebec during that time...

yeah, i was very busy with studies and overall did not know how to manage certain things. I had a hard time making friends who would have travelled with me and did not feel like going there alone... Of course now I would probably have a very different way to do things, but then I was in my early 20s...

[floridanative10]

Americans just fell in love with the skyscraper and drab office building and every city and skyline looks like manhattan, a real dreariness to the architecture. Europeans rebuilt places like old warsaw in the 1940's using paintings in like 5 or 6 years so it doesnt matter what age you build.

If american architects ever really built something like the gorgeous town squares and piazzas in Prague, Spain, Italy, etc it would be enormously popular. Most americans hate our cities.

You dont see much like this in the states, maybe in savannah

[Tim Randal Walker]

Originally Posted by floridanative10

Most americans hate our cities.

What's there to love?

[Tim Randal Walker]

Sometimes I think the only way to get good cities in the U.S. is to bulldoze the existing onies and start all over again from scratch. Replace the typical boring grids of streets with more interesting layouts. Design grand plazas. Design buildings that have a little more character than Modernist glass slabs.

And after maturing for a thousand years, these redesigned/rebuilt creations might actually turn into something good.

Except that, even if we had the will to try, we would likely botch it.

Pathetically.

Urbanity is not part of our cultural DNA.

[KenFresno]

Originally Posted by floridanative10

Americans just fell in love with the skyscraper and drab office building and every city and skyline looks like manhattan, a real dreariness to the architecture. Europeans rebuilt places like old warsaw in the 1940's using paintings in like 5 or 6 years so it doesnt matter what age you build.

If american architects ever really built something like the gorgeous town squares and piazzas in Prague, Spain, Italy, etc it would be enormously popular. Most americans hate our cities.

You dont see much like this in the states, maybe in savannah

I am an American and I do not hate our cities. I like some more then others but I don't have an ascetic issue with our style of city. We built our cities to suit the needs of our civilization and buildings like skyscrapers were necessity to the continual development of the modern world. Those grand town squares and piazzas you showed in your post were built centuries ago for a world that no longer exists. I personally would find the idea of building cities to look like a medieval or renaissance town to be archaic, uninspired and utterly lacking in vision and creativity.

[KenFresno]

Originally Posted by Tim Randal Walker

Sometimes I think the only way to get good cities in the U.S. is to bulldoze the existing onies and start all over again from scratch. Replace the typical boring grids of streets with more interesting layouts. Design grand plazas. Design buildings that have a little more character than Modernist glass slabs.

And after maturing for a thousand years, these redesigned/rebuilt creations might actually turn into something good.

Except that, even if we had the will to try, we would likely botch it.

Pathetically.

Urbanity is not part of our cultural DNA.

So basically want all American cities to look like a larger version of disneyland? I can't imagine a more kitsch horror show then what you just described.

[Tim Randal Walker]

No, I don't want a larger version of Disneyland...though if we again tried Urban Renewal, that would probably be one of the more optimistic scenarios.

My point that city design/city building/urbanity is not our forte. Suburbia/suburban lifestyle, is. So in terms of urbanity, the very best we could achieve is mediocrity.