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Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Look, LA is a beast, an absolute beast. It is undoubtedly dense and urban, but the development style of LA is unlike many of the cities it's being compared to with smaller amounts of land. You cannot compare a city as massive as Los Angeles to something the size of Boston or DC, it will not be an apples to apples comparison. What people in those cities consider urbanity may look like the suburbs to them, but in city proper LA would be considered urban. It's just the difference of the sunbelt vs everywhere else. Things are more spread out and structured different.
Do strip malls discourage the citizens who live close by these centers from walking? The thousands of people who live in my neighborhood certainly don't jump in their cars to walk two blocks to Starbucks or the bagel shop just because there's 6 or 7 parking spaces. Besides, many around me park on the street and street parking is a hassle where I live. So why give that up just to drive 2 or 3 blocks to a strip mall.
One way to get some sense of this is by looking at the number of households without a vehicle. While it might not capture the full scale of pedestrian activity, it serves as a decent barometer (imo). If you don't own a car, then you're going to walk for pretty much any trip you make, not just some of them.
Can someone explain to me why strip malls in this country by and large are designed with parking in the front? Why not put it in the back and have store fronts facing the street? Is it just stupidity or an effort to make people walk as little as possible?
A little of both. At least these structures are very impermanent.
Look, LA is a beast, an absolute beast. It is undoubtedly dense and urban, but the development style of LA is unlike many of the cities it's being compared to with smaller amounts of land. You cannot compare a city as massive as Los Angeles to something the size of Boston or DC, it will not be an apples to apples comparison. What people in those cities consider urbanity may look like the suburbs to them, but in city proper LA would be considered urban. It's just the difference of the sunbelt vs everywhere else. Things are more spread out and structured different.
The density of DC would be considered suburban in LA, SF, NY, Chicago, etc.
One way to get some sense of this is by looking at the number of households without a vehicle. While it might not capture the full scale of pedestrian activity, it serves as a decent barometer (imo). If you don't own a car, then you're going to walk for pretty much any trip you make, not just some of them.
Like someone mentioned you really can't compare Los Angeles and its nearly 500 square miles to cities like DC, Boston and the rest of the much smaller cities and their 40-60 square miles. I catch public transit and walk all the time but I do own a car too.
Like someone mentioned you really can't compare Los Angeles and its nearly 500 square miles to cities like DC, Boston and the rest of the much smaller cities and their 40-60 square miles. I catch public transit and walk all the time but I do own a car too.
Sure you can. You just run the numbers for the densest 47 or 60 sq. miles of the city. I did that for transit riders in another thread.
you people are hilarious, now I get why they call it La La land. This argument is about urban core, not city wide density.
Last edited by the resident09; 04-10-2014 at 05:45 PM..
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