Recently my thoughts have drifted the to abismal state of major cities in the US. Anyone who follows this forum is aware that the majority of top-tier cities have become increasing expensive, more dangerous (SF zombies), and overall increasingly unlivable for the average inhabitant.
But these issues have already been discussed at length. I thought it would be wise to dive a little bit deeper into the blight affecting many cities, and I discovered an altogether separate problem, that being the fundamental lack of intelligent, urban planning.
Having visited Asia recently (namely, Singapore and Japan), I was shocked at how well their cities ran. The city centers were often completely walkable, giving visitors and citizens alike the freedom to soak in the impressive, aesthetic infrastructure without a car. Public transportation linked up virtually every part of the city, and on a greater scale, there were transport hubs linking the nation as a whole. It seemed so simple, yet I wondered if their connectivity was simply a benefit of recent development, as many Asian cities are relatively new, and thus able to put a lot of thought into design before pulling the trigger.
But this hypothesis somewhat lost its ground when I traveled to Europe, and found similarly impressive architecture, walkable cities, and working public transport that mirrored its neighbors' out East. This in spite of the fact that many European cities, save the ones destroyed in WWII, were hundreds if not thousands of years old. Which brings me to the big question: Despite the fact that their constructions are relatively recent, why on earth are American cities so terribly planned?
A walk through Philly, or even a world-class city such as NYC, makes these facts glaringly obvious to the layman. Public transport is often unreliable and dangerous, and more alarmingly, there exists no regional railway that connects the nation as a whole. Cities are quite often not walkable outside of a small downtown (NYC being th exception here), which means one needs a car to participate in daily life. The lack of public gathering spaces is also quite pronounced, which points to a lesser capacity for civic engagement, such as neighborhood picnics in the local park. Speaking of which, green spaces are downright rare, and when chanced upon, visually unimpressive and heavily neglected (I.e. used heroin needles strewn about, unkempt weeds sprouting everywhere). To round it off, building quality can be generally hit or miss, but I have noticed that unsightly brick buildings with few windows seem to be the norm, with abdanoned buildings ("bands") becoming increasingly more prevalent.
It seems that despite the European roots that American builders possessed when designing the cities we live in today, the penchant for ptoper urban planning has been all but lost. Both in terms of building functional, connected metropolises, as well as making them visually appealing in the process, America has quite simply fallen short. What do you suppose happened that led to this mess of a situation, and why haven't measures been taken to fix it? I've asked many of my European and Asian friends who have visited the States, and they seem to be just as flustered. Curious what you guys think about this topic, as it seems to be an uncommon, but interesting, topic of discourse.
But these issues have already been discussed at length. I thought it would be wise to dive a little bit deeper into the blight affecting many cities, and I discovered an altogether separate problem, that being the fundamental lack of intelligent, urban planning.
Having visited Asia recently (namely, Singapore and Japan), I was shocked at how well their cities ran. The city centers were often completely walkable, giving visitors and citizens alike the freedom to soak in the impressive, aesthetic infrastructure without a car. Public transportation linked up virtually every part of the city, and on a greater scale, there were transport hubs linking the nation as a whole. It seemed so simple, yet I wondered if their connectivity was simply a benefit of recent development, as many Asian cities are relatively new, and thus able to put a lot of thought into design before pulling the trigger.
But this hypothesis somewhat lost its ground when I traveled to Europe, and found similarly impressive architecture, walkable cities, and working public transport that mirrored its neighbors' out East. This in spite of the fact that many European cities, save the ones destroyed in WWII, were hundreds if not thousands of years old. Which brings me to the big question: Despite the fact that their constructions are relatively recent, why on earth are American cities so terribly planned?
A walk through Philly, or even a world-class city such as NYC, makes these facts glaringly obvious to the layman. Public transport is often unreliable and dangerous, and more alarmingly, there exists no regional railway that connects the nation as a whole. Cities are quite often not walkable outside of a small downtown (NYC being th exception here), which means one needs a car to participate in daily life. The lack of public gathering spaces is also quite pronounced, which points to a lesser capacity for civic engagement, such as neighborhood picnics in the local park. Speaking of which, green spaces are downright rare, and when chanced upon, visually unimpressive and heavily neglected (I.e. used heroin needles strewn about, unkempt weeds sprouting everywhere). To round it off, building quality can be generally hit or miss, but I have noticed that unsightly brick buildings with few windows seem to be the norm, with abdanoned buildings ("bands") becoming increasingly more prevalent.
It seems that despite the European roots that American builders possessed when designing the cities we live in today, the penchant for ptoper urban planning has been all but lost. Both in terms of building functional, connected metropolises, as well as making them visually appealing in the process, America has quite simply fallen short. What do you suppose happened that led to this mess of a situation, and why haven't measures been taken to fix it? I've asked many of my European and Asian friends who have visited the States, and they seem to be just as flustered. Curious what you guys think about this topic, as it seems to be an uncommon, but interesting, topic of discourse.
