Re:The Golden Girls Would Violate Zoning Laws
by joe_the_user on Monday July 29, 2019 @03:24PM
(#20558398)
That was the model of LA and plenty of working class people retired with a considerable nest egg at the end of the process - in the 60s through the 90s.
The problem is you run out of rings. The three hour commute ring is unsustainable, unlivable and the trend-setters try to move into the center again, city size reaches a maximum and quickly thrown-up roads and bridges start to decay.
But this is the model the US set up and now it has painted itself into a corner in this fashion and many others.
That doesn't have to be true. The old story is that existing areas go from rural to middle to urban, rising in price. Everyone keeps moving further out, so there are always new houses. This story depends on constant urbanization and population growth in all wealth levels. "All wealth levels" is the important part, there has to be a year-by-year increase in the number of rich people so that the acres of expensive land bought by rich people can also increase. This will fail if population growth or social mobility fails, and from what I've heard both are in the process of shutting down.