If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity

Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by Nicholas_C on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @05:58PM (#41114527)

I don't know the distinct history of those cities but Houston's population didn't hit 1 million until the 1960s, nearly all of its growth has taken place in a car-centric world. At least 3/4 four of those cities have been around for a long time pre-car and I suspect weren't designed with cars in mind.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by hammock on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @06:23PM (#41114725)

How about Miami, e.g Miami Beach and downtown Miami, both extremely walkable? Like Houston, Miami did not reach 1 million pop until the 60s.

Or Panama City, did not reach 1 mil until the 90s

And "designed with cars in mind" is part of the problem, is it not? Using that as a filter is like saying "there are no parking garages with good canoeing routes"

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by underlipton on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @07:17PM (#41124542)

Depends on the time of year, I suppose.

https://www.google.com/search?q=miami+flooding&udm=2

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by nostrademons on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @11:16AM (#41119953)

More to the point, nearly all of that growth has taken place in an air-conditioned world. Urbanization of the U.S. South really only took off once the air-conditioner became mainstream.

Those other cities have a population that is adjusted to the heat - they grew up with it, their ancestors grew up with it, they're genetically and culturally adjusted to the climate. By contrast, the U.S. South includes a large number of immigrants who are only there because air conditioning exists. It's a mystery why anyone would want to walk around in 100 degree heat with 90% humidity, because they certainly wouldn't.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by Too on Friday August 02, 2024 @04:33AM (#41137091)

Singapore is no doubt developed in recent times and has one of the world’s best underground metro. It’s not for lack of cars in mind it looks the way it does. In fact the opposite, Singapore has a quota on total number of cars in the country, making other forms of transport a necessity to provide, including metro, buses, bike lanes, covered walkways.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by ijlx on Friday August 02, 2024 @06:54AM (#41137745)

2/4 had massive growth in the 50s/60s/70s (KL and Singapore). I'll give you Montevideo and San Juan, but let's not pretend it's just timing that made Houston the way it is. It's a matter of choices that were made, to prioritize car infrastructure over all else.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by mikrotikker on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @11:23PM (#41116155)

I can't even fathom how those people can survive the heat and humidity let alone walk in it.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by filoleg on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @11:38PM (#41116209)

Agreed. No matter how good the biking infrastructure in major cities in Japan is (and apparently it was good enough for me to see someone biking at almost any given moment, so I assume it was pretty good), I cannot fathom how people did it. You open a door to the outside, and you feel like you got blasted with a human-sized heatgun. Just standing outside for more than a few minutes, and you pretty much gotta take a shower after. And no, I am not ultra-sensitive to it, as I managed to survive 90F summers in Seattle with no AC just fine before.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by hammock on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @11:52PM (#41116276)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9281079/

The simple answer is, you adapt (homeostasis)

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by presentation on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @09:42AM (#41119092)

Don’t worry, Japanese people complain about it all summer. You’re not alone!

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by cinntaile on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @02:35PM (#41121948)

Japan is also a very car-centric country. Most of the time you get to bike on the sidewalk, together with the people on foot.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by hammock on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @04:04PM (#41122913)

Germany is the same way, the bike lane is often on the sidewalk, however it tends to be a very bike-friendly place

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by filoleg on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @05:16PM (#41123548)

In Japan it wasn’t the case, it was straight up just people bicycling on the sidewalk in-between people walking. They just somehow figured out how to do it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the pedestrians, and I am still not sure how.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by brigandish on Thursday August 01, 2024 @12:08AM (#41126063)

It does, people just don’t openly complain, much like any other problem - they either put up with it and say しょうがない or they complain in private or (often anonymously) online.

I am one of those annoyed people, I want bike lanes and I don’t understand why a place with so many riders is so anti-bike (aside from understanding the natural societal inclination to think that anything worth doing should be difficult, and made difficult if not).

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by shiroiushi on Friday August 02, 2024 @06:02AM (#41137480)

I'm a biker and I want bike lanes too, so I don't need to dodge pedestrians. There is some bike infra here, but it's not nearly enough. And there's too many of those stupid painted "sharrows" that no biker with any sense uses because it's either next to too-fast traffic or blocked by parked vehicles.

I think the problem is just the politicians: they probably use cars and never bike or walk in these places.

I think the thing that makes it work the way it does is, as you say, people don't openly complain. They just get out of the way, or ignore the bikers (I prefer the latter as long as a bunch of them aren't blocking the whole sidewalk). In America, they'd be going full Karen and intentionally antagonizing the bikers, or trying to start fights with them, etc. Here, people seem to just recognize it's an imperfect situation, and put up with it instead of making a big deal out of it.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by filoleg on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @05:14PM (#41123541)

You are very correct about biking on the sidewalk, but I am not going to lie, I was madly impressed how it created pretty much zero disturbance for pedestrians ever. Totally despite the fact that it was happening all the time.

Meanwhile, had plenty of occasional bicycle/scooter riders in Seattle basically destroying the flow of pedestrians on sidewalks.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by drekipus on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @12:45AM (#41116450)

Heat and humidity comes after the decision to not walk and turn everything into roads and parking lots

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by vel0city on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @11:12AM (#41119930)

I can guarantee you Houston was hot and humid well before cars existed.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by horns4lyfe on Thursday August 01, 2024 @09:38AM (#41128936)

lol there’s plenty of empty land around Houston that’s just as hot, I assure you

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by GFischer on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @09:58AM (#41119222)

Humidity is the worst part, when it's hot but not so humid it's OK.

And at least here in Montevideo we're literally by the beach. I am two blocks away from being able to swim :)

I do complain a lot about the heat+humidity combination and I use A/C a lot.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by GFischer on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @09:56AM (#41119204)

I'm from Montevideo, I wouldn't call it "tropical" but yeah, compared to an US city it's absolutely a million times more walkable.

We do have humidity and heat and I don't enjoy it and I use A/C several months a year.

There's a big push for more cycling-centric and more cycling lanes, and the bus infrastructure is obviously a lot better than the US. I don't have a car by choice.

I haven't been to Houston but I have been to Dallas and it was an extremely frustrating experience and it feels like an awful soulless city to me.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by Nicholas_C on Wednesday July 31, 2024 @12:04PM (#41120401)

Dallas’ big criticism from Texans (and especially Houstonians, there is a bit of a rivalry) is that it’s soulless… so you nailed it.

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by acheong08 on Thursday August 01, 2024 @02:14PM (#41131918)

I’m from Malaysia and I can tell you barely anyone walks in the dense parts of cities. I do like walking but the smell of sewage and car exhaust is overwhelming. Much prefer the UK

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Re:If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity by Ostrogoth on Sunday August 04, 2024 @05:23AM (#41152178)

Based on historical averages, none of these cities are hotter than Houston. They might have more humidity, but Houston averages are higher AND regularly experiences sustained daily highs during summer in excess of 100°F/38°C.

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/9247~114655~27814~113829~...

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