I’m currently reading “Strong Towns” and the ideas you discuss here really complement some of those in that book. One of the things I really appreciate about “Strong Towns” is that so many of its case studies are Midwestern. I live in Missouri so the tendency to use NYC — a massive outlier city unlike any of our others — as the main example for some of these housing ideas sometimes frustrates me. What am I to do in an inner ring burb of a midsized city? Thanks for writing!
The inner and outer ring burbs is where I think the most interesting discourse could be happening. It's culturally acceptable to not own a car in NYC, for instance, but in most of the US owning one is nearly considered mandatory. Making cars optional is such an important piece of improving American urbanism but most small to mid-sized cities have so many challenges to address to get there. And in some places it'll never happen; it's why we see so many "urban" projects wrapped around gigantic parking garages. You can sell people on apartment living but getting them to walk in a place characterized by wide arterial roads and sparse street networks doesn't make sense. Maybe TOD can help in places like that but by how much I'm not sure.
I’m currently reading “Strong Towns” and the ideas you discuss here really complement some of those in that book. One of the things I really appreciate about “Strong Towns” is that so many of its case studies are Midwestern. I live in Missouri so the tendency to use NYC — a massive outlier city unlike any of our others — as the main example for some of these housing ideas sometimes frustrates me. What am I to do in an inner ring burb of a midsized city? Thanks for writing!
The inner and outer ring burbs is where I think the most interesting discourse could be happening. It's culturally acceptable to not own a car in NYC, for instance, but in most of the US owning one is nearly considered mandatory. Making cars optional is such an important piece of improving American urbanism but most small to mid-sized cities have so many challenges to address to get there. And in some places it'll never happen; it's why we see so many "urban" projects wrapped around gigantic parking garages. You can sell people on apartment living but getting them to walk in a place characterized by wide arterial roads and sparse street networks doesn't make sense. Maybe TOD can help in places like that but by how much I'm not sure.