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See this is why I know you don't know what you're talking about. Koreatown has a lot of heavy pedestrian traffic. The area around the Wiltern has a lot of people. I'm sorry if its not Times Square but I think you're really exaggerating about LA being so pedestrian unfriendly, especially in its most dense areas. It's not NYC, DC or even Boston in terms of public transit I admit that but it's not this super car oriented city like manyof you think it is. Get out of the past.
If pedestrian activity is heavily weighted, LA does really well and I'd put it near the top of the list - all the neighborhoods around DTLA are very active with pedestrians (though yes they are lower income and more immigrants than other cities, I don't see why this matters unless you are sorta racist). However if we are weighting this more by how pedestrian friendly things look can see LA more in the 5-7 range.
Welp I didn't look at all of these but that Boston one is terrible. Tons of empty areas near Roxbury and JP that are really pretty suburban and you missed a lot of very active and urban areas along Comm Ave.
For the NYC one he chose the least dense part of Brooklyn, and completely neglected the densest neighborhoods of the city.
Koreatown does not have a lot of heavy pedestrian traffic. If I stood on a random street corner in Koreatown, and compared to pedestrian traffic at Hollywood/Highland, Wilshire/Rodeo, or 3rd Street in SM, there would be no comparison. In fact there is no equivalent corner anywhere in Koreatown.
Yet, at the same time, Koreatown has higher population density than all these places. That's why you can't blindly look at density. I would much rather live a pedestrian/bike/transit oriented lifestyle in SM than in Koreatown.
This post is proof positive you have no idea what you are talking about. Wilshire and Vermont and Wilshire and Western are definitely just about as busy as Hollywood and Highland. Another example that refutes your point is the intersection of Wilshire and Alvarado, which is found to be the 2nd busiest pedestrian intersection in the city in an (admittedly cursory) study. Is it a coincidence it is in the densest neighborhood in the city? I think not.
(though yes they are lower income and more immigrants than other cities, I don't see why this matters unless you are sorta racist).
I think you missed the point. It isn't that these neighborhoods are not ideally urban because of poor people or immigrants, but because the built form doesn't reflect the density.
Someplace like Chinatown in SF is stuffed with poor immigrants, but has a very appealing urban form; the same cannot be said of Rampart or Boyle Heights, because often you have a rather disjointed urban form with impressive density numbers because you have four generations of Salvadorans in a garden apartment or bungalow house. In short, the built form does not match the human density.
Usually when people say they want to live in an urban environment, they don't literally mean they want to live in as densely packed a neighborhoods as humanly possible, but rather they want a neighborhood that has features commonly associated with density- walkability, transit, and the like.
I think you missed the point. It isn't that these neighborhoods are not ideally urban because of poor people or immigrants, but because the built form doesn't reflect the density.
Someplace like Chinatown in SF is stuffed with poor immigrants, but has a very appealing urban form; the same cannot be said of Rampart or Boyle Heights, because often you have a rather disjointed urban form with impressive density numbers because you have four generations of Salvadorans in a garden apartment or bungalow house. In short, the built form does not match the human density.
Usually when people say they want to live in an urban environment, they don't literally mean they want to live in as densely packed a neighborhoods as humanly possible, but rather they want a neighborhood that has features commonly associated with density- walkability, transit, and the like.
Yeah but these are still very densely built areas. Instead of being 90k ppsm, perhaps they should be 60 ppsm. But is that really a huge difference? It's not like household sizes are double or triple what they should be - they are just slightly higher than most other urban cities. You are making these arguments which would be hypothetically correct but just not based in reality. It's not like the household size in Central LA is 6 when it should be 2 - it's like 3.5 or 4 when it should be 2 (but household sizes that small indicate hyper-gentrification IMO, I think Brooklyn's 2.7 is a very healthy average).
I think the issue is some posters are unable to comprehend just how much these suburban-appearing apartment blocks are able to squeeze every last square inch out of the lot. And often what appears to be a SFH in South and East LA is actually a duplex or triplex (or quad, penta, hexa plex). Also there are often backyard units in South and East LA, which also drive up the density. This is a complex urban form that simply cannot be explained by - "It's those Hispanics living 8 to a bedroom!"
This post is proof positive you have no idea what you are talking about. Wilshire and Vermont and Wilshire and Western are definitely just about as busy as Hollywood and Highland.
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You definitely have no idea what you're talking about. Hollywood and Highland is extremely busy, and much busier than those two other locations. At times, thanks to the tourists and idiot costume people, it's impassible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by munchitup
Another example that refutes your point is the intersection of Wilshire and Alvarado, which is found to be the 2nd busiest pedestrian intersection in the city in an (admittedly cursory) study. Is it a coincidence it is in the densest neighborhood in the city? I think not.
I know that intersection, and it isn't the 2nd busiest pedestrian intersection. That's an absurd claim. It gets pedestrians because of the ghetto swap meet, but is not particularly busy compared to major LA intersections like Metro Center, Hollywood Highland, Rodeo, 3rd Street, even Wilshire/Westwood is busier.
Welp I didn't look at all of these but that Boston one is terrible. Tons of empty areas near Roxbury and JP that are really pretty suburban and you missed a lot of very active and urban areas along Comm Ave.
If you would like to take the time out to draw a better map using google maps which changes every time you move the endpoint to measure the shortest distance making your line all extra zigzagged, by all means, take a stab at it. It was a general square cut out which is REALLY hard to do with Boston and all those curvy roads on google maps. See for yourself......and good luck.
No, I didn't. 2.7 is the average household size in Kings County (Brooklyn). Manhattan is 2.0.
Not sure what you're talking about, as 1. You aren't MD Allstar, and you didn't pick the map, 2. He didn't pick Kings County overall and 3. Household size is irrelevant to a conversation of density.
For the NYC one he chose the least dense part of Brooklyn, and completely neglected the densest neighborhoods of the city.
If you can draw a better square in google maps for Brooklyn, then by all means. The roads cut off, they turn, they do all sorts of things making it EXTREMLY hard to make a square. How about some of you make the maps?
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