Saturday, January 5, 2008
Lack of incentives...
I went on a walk yesterday around my neighborhood. The stores on the main road (HWY 100) were almost impossible to access by being a pedestrian. It took tremendously longer to get around places because they were larger and more spread out. When I got back into my neighborhood I realized that the streets just outside my house do not have sidewalks. I never really noticed these things because I always drove everywhere because when I first moved here everything seemed in better driving distance than walking. If we are trying to create a better tomorrow, is this the path - lack of sidewalks, driveways and drive throughs? I don't think so, but I maybe crazy. Maybe I was spoiled living close to the city in Wauwatosa. I could walk/run successfully to many things I needed. Perhaps this is just a sign I need to learn to ride a bike. I just think Milwaukee needs better city planners. Greedy developers;)
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5 comments:
I think it' s better you never go to Asia or South-America then. :P seriously....
There are often no sidewalks, and if there are, then motorbikes use them as roads when there is too much traffic to avoid the cars.
But I'm still alive !
Personally I think I could travel to Asia, but never live. I live in the U.S. and I know there is the infrastructure to create sidewalks. That's not the problem. The problem is the lack of incentives.
for sure you should learn how to ride a bike. i have studied american city planning, it is difficult to pinpoint our errors. what i find interesting is cities planned around the car...check out the capital of brazil, it is the perfect example of what happens when you take planning to a whole new "modern" level, we lose the "human-ness" of a space, thus causing the human to be displace and for people to become isolated and lost. welcome to america joe. this is our culture.
Point well taken anonymous. I do agree that this is our current culture. We like to drive to places, however, I do not know if I am satisfied with things being the way they are. Are you anonymous?
I think the "problem" was that the car was the most efficient and economical way to get around when the suburbs were created. Now we are starting to realize as gas prices and obesity rates increase that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to design our cities around laziness. Just look at the average shopping mall, people patrol around in their cars and illegally park in handicapped spaces in order to avoid walking a few extra steps. It's really comical for those of us who have lived in a walking/biking city like Madison or have traveled to Europe.
That said, I can not reject cars altogether. With new technology, within 20-30 years, cars will account for less and less air pollution while still getting people from point A to point B and transferring goods conveniently. Grocery shopping without a car is quite difficult, for example. In addition, nobody likes to structure their lives around bus/train schedules.
I propose that our futuristic cities accept that the suburbs can be compacted or simplified, but not eliminated. Shopping with cars is probably unavoidable.
However, some improvements can be made. First, more and more transactions will be done online, such as online banking, shopping, work, etc. Secondly, cars should be used for personal use, but not for commuting to work and back. Planners should attempt to create public transportation that gets from the home areas to the business areas fast and efficiently. Cities should encourage businesses to build in certain areas in order to make it easier to build effective public transportation. Obviously, the cost is terribly expensive, so gas prices will need to double or triple from current prices before any of these proposals are economical.
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