Re:Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees
by mlsu on Wednesday January 31, 2024 @04:59AM
(#39201953)
If you don't want to live in a walkable area boy have I got great news for you. Close your eyes and point at the map!
Re:Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees
by JoshTriplett on Wednesday January 31, 2024 @05:13AM
(#39202025)
I would love to live in a walkable area. I would like people designing walkable areas to not make assumptions like "Oh, everyone will love shopping several times a week, just like I do!". (Or worse, "I don't enjoy this myself but I'm sure other people will!", which is a common failure mode.) Let's not have a false dichotomy that assumes everyone who wants to live somewhere walkable also enjoys running errands and wants to do it more often.
Re:Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees
by nerb on Wednesday January 31, 2024 @06:33AM
(#39202563)
> don't involve spending an appreciable fraction of your day shopping.
if you're concerned about how your time is spent, i think you're missing a fundamental piece of the puzzle: how much time you spend driving. you could end up saving an enormous amount of time while still going out to shop more if you cut out driving and reduce the scope of your trips.
Re:Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees
by bluGill on Wednesday January 31, 2024 @10:30AM
(#39204972)
Not really. People tend to have tolerance levels for commute type activities, so while cars enable going farther in the same amount of time, the time budget doesn't change. If they have a walkable city they are likely to find reason to go to a farther away store if it is still in the time budget.
I'm all for designing for walkability, but this is a case study in failing to understand audiences. If you make this not just a possibility but a requirement of walkable cities, many people won't want to live in your "walkable" cities at all.
There are much better arguments possible here. For instance, you could promote CSAs for regularly delivered farm-fresh produce, or establish efficient grocery delivery services that use one vehicle to deliver to many many customers, or other potential options that don't involve regular car trips for grocery shopping and don't involve spending an appreciable fraction of your day shopping.