Re:Guerrilla Bike Lanes: San Francisco Makes Illicit Infrast...
by jrowen on Friday November 06, 2026 @11:27PM
(#50401610)
"White flight" was only a response to your assertion about human psychology. My point is that I think more people find urban life desirable and enjoyable than you give credit for. I don't care much for NYC, but it seems like every time I go to Europe there's those big ugly buildings on the wall. A restauranteur in Vienna once took us back to show us his memorabilia room with twin towers poster and all.
I think "make urban life better" has much higher potential than "convince people they don't want to live in big cities." I see the root causes as social and political more than technical. There are certainly advantages and efficiencies to be had with a dense population.
Unaffordablity due to wealth inequality and concentration is the major social dilemma of our time and I can't really connect it to people pushing for more bike lanes and park spaces.
Jobs.
"White flight" is also a US phenomenon, yet over-urbanization is happening everywhere. Look at Japan for an example. And it's a mono-national country without any significant internal racism or segregation.
Tokyo is also a nice counter-example for many proposals. It's building new housing as fast as possible (whole neighborhoods are construction zones!), it has a land value tax, it allows microapartments, it's building transit all the time. Yet nothing helps. Housing prices keep rising.
> I believe the reason for the unrest is that technology and the attendant wealth consolidation have greatly outpaced our social systems and constructs.
And over-urbanization is one of the reasons this became possible (not the only one, but definitely a contributor). An average company in a small town can't afford to treat people there like shit. They simply won't have any workforce or customers after a while. A company in a large city always has access to a pool of candidates.
> But spend some time in the Eixample area of Barcelona if you get a chance.
I grew up in Russia and Ukraine, and I also lived in Europe (Germany and the Netherlands). I got my driving license at 27 years and my first car at around 30 years of age.
And Spain has all the same problems as other countries: large cities are unaffordable, and small cities are dying. It's more relaxed in general, but the trend is unmistakable.
> Life should be easier for people.
Yes, and the only way to do that is to look at the root causes.