Building Better Communities

[Geoist]

Just realized my thread was part of the recent wipeout of data.

Let's be real: most of our communities suck and are poorly designed, especially in America. This thread will be dedicated to the theme of building better communities/local government through New Urbanist ideas, proper land use/taxation, quality public transportation, etc etc.

A few resources I will refer to:

Eco Gecko

Here at Eco Gecko, we create leftist commentaries on cities, suburbs, and urban planning, with other topics scattered about. Contact me at EcoSoca@gmail.com

www.youtube.com

https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes

City Beautiful

City Beautiful is a YouTube channel dedicated to educating everyone about cities and city planning. Cities are amazing! I cover topics such as transportation, land use planning, and urban design. I post new videos regularly. I'm on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/citybeautifulYT You can...

www.youtube.com

Strong Towns

www.strongtowns.org

Saving Communities

Films For Action: A Documentary Library for Changing the World

Browse and watch 6000+ documentaries and videos - 99% free. No ads. Submit films. Share with friends. Let's change the world together!

www.filmsforaction.org

 

[Geoist]

 

[otto105]

Come on people!

A 15 minute city scares old white men, especially the one that wears orange makeup.

A walkable city is communist? Socialist? Anti-fascist? Or European? God the horrors.

Seriously

 

[Geoist]

Come on people!

A 15 minute city scares old white men, especially the one that wears orange makeup.

A walkable city is communist? Socialist? Anti-fascist? Or European? God the horrors.

Seriously

I'll never understand these people...

 

[aociswundumho]

This thread will be dedicated to the theme of building better communities/local government through New Urbanist ideas, proper land use/taxation, quality public transportation, etc etc.

So it's a thread devoted to central planning. My first contribution will be the USSR monotown.

Monotown - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Michael Cole]

Just realized my thread was part of the recent wipeout of data.

Let's be real: most of our communities suck and are poorly designed, especially in America.

Being real, you're not qualified to make this determination. Furthermore, if you had visited and assessed enough cities to come to this conclusion, such a conclusion would be only your opinion.

I love my area. I love waking up to mountain views. I love Lake Tahoe being a 45 minute drive away. I love the 4 seasons. I love the convergence of high desert and alpine mountains creating a plethora of natural environments to choose from. I love that the city borders on a national wilderness area. I love no income tax. I could go on.

Your opinion on my choices and lifestyle, what I consider to be quality of life issues, are meaningless.

The local and state governments have managed growth respectably. I have no complaints, and I'm not about to opine on somewhere I've never been.

This thread will be dedicated to the theme of building better communities/local government through New Urbanist ideas, proper land use/taxation, quality public transportation, etc etc.


A few resources I will refer to:

Eco Gecko

Here at Eco Gecko, we create leftist commentaries on cities, suburbs, and urban planning, with other topics scattered about. Contact me at EcoSoca@gmail.com

www.youtube.com

https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustBikes

City Beautiful

City Beautiful is a YouTube channel dedicated to educating everyone about cities and city planning. Cities are amazing! I cover topics such as transportation, land use planning, and urban design. I post new videos regularly. I'm on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/citybeautifulYT You can...

www.youtube.com

Strong Towns

www.strongtowns.org

Saving Communities

Films For Action: A Documentary Library for Changing the World

Browse and watch 6000+ documentaries and videos - 99% free. No ads. Submit films. Share with friends. Let's change the world together!

www.filmsforaction.org

 

[Cosmo]

Come on people!

A 15 minute city scares old white men, especially the one that wears orange makeup.

A walkable city is communist? Socialist? Anti-fascist? Or European? God the horrors.

Seriously

Uh...what? Do they not have sidewalks outside of the big liberal cities or something?

 

[Michael Cole]

So it's a thread devoted to central planning. My first contribution will be the USSR monotown.

Monotown - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Then you need to read #2. It's a capitalist's dream on steroids. America's largest manufacturing park and shipyard.

The new city in Solano County is a vision of tech billionaires. Blockchains tried building a "smart city" on the 67,000 acres it bought in 2018 in this area. It failed. Never got off the ground legally.

If technology can improve quality of life for those who choose it, good for the investors.

Opposition is strong with local officials, residents and voters.

'California Forever' Folks Return, Now Want to Add Manufacturing Park and 400,000 New Residents to Suisun City

If you thought the California Forever plan, concocted by a group of billionaires with the help of a single, visionary CEO, to create a new city in Solano County was dead, you were naive.

sfist.com

The developers now want to "extend" the land into Suisun City, population 29,600. The new city will be designed for 400,000. The whole thing looks like a hobby for tech billionaires.

With a series of tweets Tuesday, California Forever CEO Jan Sramek announced the plan that has likely been brewing since the group withdrew their ballot measure last year in the face of staunch opposition from Solano County officials and likely a difficult political lift with voters too. As was already taking shape publicly back in January, Sramek and his team have pivoted to partnering with the small existing city of Suisun City, with a plan to build their new city of 400,000 residents as an "extension" of Suisun City, population 29,600.

 

[aociswundumho]

Then you need to read #2. It's a capitalist's dream on steroids. America's largest manufacturing park and shipyard.

The new city in Solano County is a vision of tech billionaires. Blockchains tried building a "smart city" on the 67,000 acres it bought in 2018 in this area. It failed.

Yes, and the cost of the failure was borne by the billionaires, not the taxpayers. They're playing with their own money, not money that was taken from other people by force.

Never got off the ground legally.

Which means the government is what made it fail.

 

[Michael Cole]

Yes, and the cost of the failure was borne by the billionaires, not the taxpayers. They're playing with their own money, not money that was taken from other people by force.

Brilliant!!! NSS? WTF?

These words of wisdom have nothing to do with my points. I have no clue why you typed them.

Which means the government is what made it fail.

Alrighty then.

My point with Blockchains is the risk involved in these pie-in-the-sky billionaire tech bro schemes. The company still owns the land. The land has appreciated nicely. It has sold large parcels. The land investment hasn't failed. The crazy "smart city" idea failed.

The government is irrelevant to my points. Your offering of communism as central planning is a false comparison. This is capitalist central planning.

 

[Peacenik]

Planned cities, planned lives, planned fun. What's the point of being an individual? Just another unit? Where's the freedom?

 

[Questerr]

Planned cities, planned lives, planned fun. What's the point of being an individual? Just another unit? Where's the freedom?

Where exactly are “planned lives” anywhere in the suggestions Geoist linked to?

Is it better to have rich assholes plan our lives based on what brings them maximized profits?

 

[Geoist]

So it's a thread devoted to central planning. My first contribution will be the USSR monotown.

Monotown - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I'm a fan of local community planning, not 'central' planning.

 

[Geoist]

Being real, you're not qualified to make this determination. Furthermore, if you had visited and assessed enough cities to come to this conclusion, such a conclusion would be only your opinion.

Feel free to contribute to the thread, but I really don't get where this hostility is coming from.

 

[Geoist]

Your opinion on my choices and lifestyle, what I consider to be quality of life issues, are meaningless.

Dude, what is with you?

 

[Geoist]

Planned cities, planned lives, planned fun. What's the point of being an individual? Just another unit? Where's the freedom?

This is sarcasm, yes?

 

[Geoist]

Alternatives to Sprawl: Case Studies in Building Better 'Burbs​

Question: Why do we seem to only want walkable communities on our college campuses, but almost nowhere else? I seriously think that is a major aspect of what people love about college life.

 

[Geoist]

How To Make Cities Beautiful Again: 7 Design Secrets​

 

[Gatsby]

Planned cities, planned lives, planned fun. What's the point of being an individual? Just another unit? Where's the freedom?

I think people fail to realize that our *existing* urban developments (American-style suburban sprawl) are not natural. They are very much the result of planning too, just very bad planning.

Some urban planning is good, especially when it comes to roads, walkways, public spaces, and transit. The problems mainly stem from too much planning when it comes to the *function* of buildings. Houston and SF are the two oppposite extremes of government control over cities...and neither are very good at city planning.

 

[Michael Cole]

Dude, what is with you?

???

That's my question to you.

Opinions on places one has never been are meaningless to those who live there.

Your first attempt at this subject included an attack on capitalism. Now you present a capitalist city as an example.

Dude, what is with you?

 

[Michael Cole]

Feel free to contribute to the thread, but I really don't get where this hostility is coming from.

That's my impression. I'm simply offering arguments, which you conveniently snip.

You're twitter bombing. Feel free to add or reply with something rational.

Cities go through planning processes. That you don't agree with the decisions some make does not mean there is no planning, as you asserted last time.

Cities take surveys.

https://www.reno.gov/government/strategic-priorities/community-survey

Key Findings​

• Over 3,200 responses received
• 63.6% positive rating of Reno as a place to live
• 56.7% positive rating of Reno as a place to visit
• 51.5% positive rating of Reno as a place to work
• 72.1% positive rating of fire services
• 62.5% positive rating of 911 services

Who should the planning agency listen to? You?

 

[aociswundumho]

I'm a fan of local community planning, not 'central' planning.

If the planning is done by a government and imposed by force, it's central planning. Doesn't matter whether it's federal, state or local.

 

[Peacenik]

This is sarcasm, yes?

Strip malls are so beautiful.

 

[Peacenik]

I think people fail to realize that our *existing* urban developments (American-style suburban sprawl) are not natural. They are very much the result of planning too, just very bad planning.

Some urban planning is good, especially when it comes to roads, walkways, public spaces, and transit. The problems mainly stem from too much planning when it comes to the *function* of buildings. Houston and SF are the two oppposite extremes of government control over cities...and neither are very good at city planning.

There must be a happy medium. It's not like every life is a cookie cutter replication of one another. There is something to be said for individualism. Planned lives contain constraints that prevent ultimate freedom. I'm OK with places like Reston, but it's not for everyone. That can't be all there is.

 

[otto105]

Uh...what? Do they not have sidewalks outside of the big liberal cities or something?

Hilarious

Why don’t you know what a 15-minute city means.