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Unfortunately that's kind of limited in the US to New York and MAYBE Boston, plus San Fran if you never want to leave the center of the city. Maybe Philly and DC to some extent.
Which leaves the other 300 million of us who don't want to live in those places.
Most people want iron foundries and semiconductor plants to be located at a distance from housing, also feedlots and water treatment plants. So all the people who work at occupations where people don't want the business located in their neighborhoods, they're going to be traveling to work, one way or another.
Basically this big apartment complex that claims to be "car-free" will ONLY work for people who work from home; for students at nearby ASU whose mommies and daddies can pony up for the (fairly high) rent, and the few people who work at places like Stinky's Fast Lube and the big UPS warehouse and distribution center, plus the few who can commute to work on the light rail that has a (relatively) near station.
I fail to see how, other than making tenants promise not to keep a car within 1/4 mile, this is any different from any other big apartment complex with a centralized parking garage where you have to do some walking to get to your apartment, as opposed to distributed small parking lots throughout the complex. As I've already said, I will predict that within 10 years the visitor parking will have been converted to tenant parking and/or the complex will have bought a nearby property and made a parking lot. Probably happen when the complex gets sold. Which happens, well, pretty much constantly.
Many US cities are developing very fast in their downtown. Urbanism is no longer limited to NYC and SF. It's time to wake up and recognize the changes. Some of the fastest growing downtowns are in Seattle and Chicago these days. What people like Randall O'Toole and IC_deLight do not understand about population movements is, that US cities are mostly losing population in already lower density city areas.
And there is a reason for that: Because low density development is not sustainable long term. It becomes a financial burden, because the infrastructure costs are too high, which means infrastructure is longer properly maintained, which in return means more affluent people are leaving and so begins an downward spiral, which drives suburbanists further and further out.
Many US cities are developing very fast in their downtown. Urbanism is no longer limited to NYC and SF. It's time to wake up and recognize the changes. Some of the fastest growing downtowns are in Seattle and Chicago these days. What people like Randall O'Toole and IC_deLight do not understand about population movements is, that US cities are mostly losing population in already lower density city areas.
And there is a reason for that: Because low density development is not sustainable long term. It becomes a financial burden, because the infrastructure costs are too high, which means infrastructure is longer properly maintained, which in return means more affluent people are leaving and so begins an downward spiral, which drives suburbanists further and further out.
LOL, you do know that the city of Chicago is more than it's downtown and the city over all has been loosing population since the 1950ies! Also the affluent are not leaving Chicago, it is more the families with kids or people in Child bearing ages.
Dense development actually has two advantages here. I walk 2 minutes to the nearest grocery store. That's probably not much more than it takes for most Americans to walk from the parking lot to the grocery store. And secondly, dense buildings provide shade. If you then plant a few trees, it is definitely much cooler.
Do you envision elderly people walking to the grocery store when it's 110 degrees outside? How do they get their purchases home? Do they have pull behind grocery carts on wheels? Where do they store this inside a 500sf apartment?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stadtmensch
It's more like the opposite. My experience is, that such narrow streets are much cooler than wide streets. One should not underestimate the cooling effect of shade, regardless wether it is coming from trees or buildings. I am cycling a lot during the summer, so I am always looking for these narrow streets in old towns or a forest to cool down after a while cycling over open fields. The difference in surface temperature is something like 20 degree celsius or 50 degree Fahrenheit. It's a lot.
I did not see any elderly in the pictures on this apartment website. Is it not being marketed to the elderly?
What's the temperature in the summer in Germany vs. in Arizona? I live in an urban condo in the outskirts of Miami and I don't walk to the grocery store when it's 95degrees and humid like it is 9 months out of the year. I know it's been asked before in this thread and not answered, but how do people get to work, doctor's offices, even the hospital if needed? Are ambulances allowed to drive to this place.
I think it's a good idea to try something like this, but it's impractical for a lot of people... maybe the demographics are 21-35 year old single people or childless couples who work from home?
I think it's a good idea to try something like this, but it's impractical for a lot of people... maybe the demographics are 21-35 year old single people or childless couples who work from home?
As a single childless 30 something who works at home, you can take my indoor attached garage and my car from my cold, dead hands. There's no way I'm walking to the store or ordering a $20+ Uber every time I want to go somewhere in the TX summer, nor am I going to spend 3 hours going the 5 miles to the airport with luggage when I need to travel when my car gets me there in 10 minutes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SanyBelle
One other observation, if this is being marketed as a car free community, why is there a visitor's car parking lot?
My guess is the visitors don't live in "car free" communities and will need to drive to this "car free community".
Ever, heard of Mackinac island. It was a wealthy community back in the 1898s. It banned cars back then(after all they could afford horses). It is still car free and a tourist attraction. There also are the Amish, who do not own cars and yes some colleges ban parking for freshmen.
Car free is nothing new
Beat me to it! Regarding Mackinac Island. I wouldn't include the Amish because Lancaster itself and the communities the Amish live in are not car-free communities. Mackinac is really the only one, now this one.
Of course car-free is nothing new, but how many car-free communities especially for families have been built in recent years in the United States? I don't know any.
The headline is "The First Car-Free community in the US. It's clearly not, so it was corrected.
One other observation, if this is being marketed as a car free community, why is there a visitor's car parking lot?
I am guessing you can drive TO the community, but once you get there you have to leave your car in the lot, which is probably at the very beginning of it. The rules are no cars on the streets of the community, but I'm sure you can still have a car, or have visitors who have cars, to get to the gates.
Beat me to it! Regarding Mackinac Island. I wouldn't include the Amish because Lancaster itself and the communities the Amish live in are not car-free communities. Mackinac is really the only one, now this one.
Smith Island, Maryland. There are golf carts.
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