Re:How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub
by abalone on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @09:46PM
(#11485104)
There are also economic reasons. Parisian density is only possible with a great underground transportation system. That's hugely expensive to build and takes decades. SF has traditionally been a boomtown economy with corresponding bust cycles, so it's harder to make those kinds of investments. They are happening (e.g. the Chinatown extension) but more conservatively.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:How to Make Pittsburgh a Startup Hub
by thaumasiotes on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @02:44AM
(#11486230)
> Parisian density is only possible with a great underground transportation system. That's hugely expensive to build and takes decades.
It takes decades as an artifact of governmental processes. There's no necessary reason it should take decades.
Saigon where I'm back from is building a light rail to the center with twenty odd 30-40 story residential blocks along it. The whole thing is taking about 2 years to build.
That kind of thing is good for preserving historic buildings too - the blocks are all in nondescript areas 1-4 miles from the center.