Twin Cities: 50 years from now (Minneapolis, St. Paul: condos, houses, construction)

[marmac]

Originally Posted by kcitti

I hope we hit $10 gas and people are forced to change the way they live, not only here, but throughout the country. The sprawl is completely out of control and there is simply no justification for it.

$10 gas would turn most major cities iinto either ghost towns or riot plauged cities.

What do you think the cost of trucked in groceries would be with $10 gas ?


I don't want all the people from the city moving back to my rural area cuz they have no food.

Be carefull what you wish for ( $10 gas )

[kcitti]

Originally Posted by marmac

$10 gas would turn most major cities iinto either ghost towns or riot plauged cities.

What do you think the cost of trucked in groceries would be with $10 gas ?


I don't want all the people from the city moving back to my rural area cuz they have no food.

Be carefull what you wish for ( $10 gas )

$10 gas would force people to examine the way they live. Trucks wouldn't be traveling to 75 different grocery stores in 20 different suburbs. We would live more densely, using limited resources more wisely. It's really time that we deal with the consequences of our actions. There has to be an adjustment at some point that fundamentally changes the way we live.

[Cycloid]

10 doller gas sort of makes you wonder what it would take for many of the big yards in the suburbs to be turned into small farms maybe like an estate farming thing. Then you could have very maintenance intensive but also very high quality and organic produce delivered all around.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by Cycloid

10 doller gas sort of makes you wonder what it would take for many of the big yards in the suburbs to be turned into small farms maybe like an estate farming thing. Then you could have very maintenance intensive but also very high quality and organic produce delivered all around.

and to be raided by the inner city thugs who don't have large yards

[Cycloid]

Of maybe bought by inner city thugs who don't have large yards.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

As an inner city guy I must speak up here. I have observed that several of my neighbors have insanely productive gardens in their tiny city lots. There is a home in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood on a corner lot that is full of 6 foot high corn stalks, amongst all kinds of other things. We have neighbors who have hens that lay fresh eggs for them every morning. Plus I know other people who rent out plots of land in the community gardens along the Midtown Greenway and grow so much produce they don't know what to do with it all. I agree that the larger suburban lots have more growth potential, but it isn't to say it can't be done (and isn't already done) in the city too.

[uptown_urbanist]

$10 gas would certainly force some changes. Sprawl in the Twin Cities is a major problem, and somethings got to change. It's not realistic to just keep building out and out and out; there's going to need to be more density in the metro area. Maybe environmental pressures or higher gas will help bring about some change. I'd like to think that the densest parts of the metro area will be far better served by public transit in the coming decades, as building longer and longer commuter rails out to distant locations could just make it that much easier to spread the sprawl.

$10 gas wouldn't change major cities into ghost towns; gas and driving is already very expensive in many non-American major cities, and people survive just fine. Where it will (and has, in some parts of the country) really hurt are in the most car-dependent suburbs or exurbs.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by Slig

As an inner city guy I must speak up here. I have observed that several of my neighbors have insanely productive gardens in their tiny city lots. There is a home in the Powderhorn Park neighborhood on a corner lot that is full of 6 foot high corn stalks, amongst all kinds of other things. We have neighbors who have hens that lay fresh eggs for them every morning. Plus I know other people who rent out plots of land in the community gardens along the Midtown Greenway and grow so much produce they don't know what to do with it all. I agree that the larger suburban lots have more growth potential, but it isn't to say it can't be done (and isn't already done) in the city too.

I agree. Lots of chickens in Minneapolis (and St. Paul and suburbs, too, of course) now, and some of the leading urban/suburban food movements are coming from the city, not the suburbs. Of course large suburban lots definitely have great potential.

One of my dreams would be for the Midtown Greenway to be lined with food, not just in the gardens along the way but along as much of it as possle. It would provide even more food, not to mention more "eyes on the street" to keep the Greenway safer.

During WWII the city of San Francisco is the most heavily urbanized county in the state of California, yet ended up with one of the most successful and productive victory garden program in the country. Urban agriculture is definitely possible, is a hot current trend, and could potentially have the staying power to be something with staying power. I'd love to see a Twin Cities in 50 years that successfully produces much larger amounts of food locally. I think food issues are definitely going to be part of the discussions in coming years at both the metro area and country level.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by uptown_urbanist

$10 gas would certainly force some changes. Sprawl in the Twin Cities is a major problem, and somethings got to change. It's not realistic to just keep building out and out and out; there's going to need to be more density in the metro area. Maybe environmental pressures or higher gas will help bring about some change. I'd like to think that the densest parts of the metro area will be far better served by public transit in the coming decades, as building longer and longer commuter rails out to distant locations could just make it that much easier to spread the sprawl.

$10 gas wouldn't change major cities into ghost towns; gas and driving is already very expensive in many non-American major cities, and people survive just fine. Where it will (and has, in some parts of the country) really hurt are in the most car-dependent suburbs or exurbs.

Strange that some believe if gas prices rise to $10 per gallon, the only time you are affected is when you fill your car up.

Any freight would be priced way higher, any public transportation ( trains,planes busses) would see rates go much higher and eventually food produced on farms would sky rocket to compensate for high fuel prices.

If gas was priced at $10 per gallon, it is not the cost of filling up that would be devastating, it would be the ripple effect.

As I said, be carefull what you wish for as you look thru your tunnel vision glasses.

[Globe199]

$10 gas will not happen. It would destroy the American (and global) economy in a matter of days, and companies like Exxon would cease to exist. Consequently, those companies will not allow it to happen.