City planning policy in your hometown

[Skylander]

Let's discuss how the mayors of your cities are effective in planning of public transport, entertainment facilities, housing, etc. Politics that won't create a war ahahahahah

 

[Jetflag]

the town i'm currently living in actually has quite a nice way of handling (most) traffic in a small busy environment by means of (to use a technical term) "urban carpet"

These are basically zones where its practically impossible to make a lane for every form of traffic due to space constraints. So for that particular area the speed is reduced to 15 kph, the street is raised up 10/20 odd centimeters to create a sort of sloped elevated platform, and paved with a single material.

What this does is it allows people to negotiate amongst themselves and on the spot instead of having everything regulated by a dogmatic set of traffic rules.

unfortunatly there's this one street next to my house where this concept can't be applied, due to an emergency route for the fire brigade. Resulting in a terribly cramped "poldermodel"

 

[Skylander]

the town i'm currently living in actually has quite a nice way of handling (most) traffic in a small busy environment by means of (to use a technical term) "urban carpet"

These are basically zones where its practically impossible to make a lane for every form of traffic due to space constraints. So for that particular area the speed is reduced to 15 kph, the street is raised up 10/20 odd centimeters to create a sort of sloped elevated platform, and paved with a single material.

What this does is it allows people to negotiate amongst themselves and on the spot instead of having everything regulated by a dogmatic set of traffic rules.

unfortunatly there's this one street next to my house where this concept can't be applied, due to an emergency route for the fire brigade. Resulting in a terribly cramped "poldermodel"

I guess you live somewhere in Europe. Germany?) 'Cuz majority of European countries are known for their good city planning. Unlike some countries...

 

[Archon]

Here it's turned into full-on corruption. Lots of emphasis on covering large areas with buildings, (murky) investors having close ties with the city officials, and it's in the city's (budgetary) interest to sell as much land as possible, so they do. The growing IT sector drove up the demand in the previous past years, but the inflation stopped the expansion a bit (even driving prices down slightly).

The issue is, the entire infrastructure doesn't really follow the expansion - the roads aren't getting any wider, and where there were houses, there are now 4-story buildings - and almost every apartment's owners have a car or two. Those are the things that I notice on a daily basis - thankfully no issues with heating, water and electricity yet.

Public transport is a positive - we're covered by buses, and covered well. When you figure out the lines you can get almost anywhere by a bus. It's also dirt-cheap still - my company pays like 20 EUR for my monthly bus pass. I rarely use the car in the city anymore, only for shopping and to get out of it. Taxis are a necessity when going out, since buses don't operate from midnight to 0430 in the morning.

The issue is, there are less and less green areas in the city - concrete is the new norm, which, along with the traffic, I severely dislike.

So that's why I'd like to move away at some point. Either to a village, or to a mountain.

 

[Jetflag]

I guess you live somewhere in Europe. Germany?) 'Cuz majority of European countries are known for their good city planning. Unlike some countries...

Netherlands. I live in a village though, not a major city.

Speaking as a practicing Architect and trained Urbanist.. I can squarly burst your bubble that the majority of european cities are known for good city planning heh.. especially the major ones like Paris or London or the Hague

There are some good examples. (Copenhagen, Rotterdam/(old) Amsterdam etc.), but, like most cities around the world, its incredibly difficult to organically plan ahead for 10-20 years.. Most Urbanists and architects are Zeitgeist driven, which is how you end up with travesties like Bijlmer or the parisian Baninues.

Visited Russia quite a few times and you do have some proper gems up there really...(Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk) Moscow is an absolute cauldrin though.. heh.

 

[Skylander]

Here it's turned into full-on corruption. Lots of emphasis on covering large areas with buildings, (murky) investors having close ties with the city officials, and it's in the city's (budgetary) interest to sell as much land as possible, so they do. The growing IT sector drove up the demand in the previous past years, but the inflation stopped the expansion a bit (even driving prices down slightly).

The issue is, the entire infrastructure doesn't really follow the expansion - the roads aren't getting any wider, and where there were houses, there are now 4-story buildings - and almost every apartment's owners have a car or two. Those are the things that I notice on a daily basis - thankfully no issues with heating, water and electricity yet.

Public transport is a positive - we're covered by buses, and covered well. When you figure out the lines you can get almost anywhere by a bus. It's also dirt-cheap still - my company pays like 20 EUR for my monthly bus pass. I rarely use the car in the city anymore, only for shopping and to get out of it. Taxis are a necessity when going out, since buses don't operate from midnight to 0430 in the morning.

The issue is, there are less and less green areas in the city - concrete is the new norm, which, along with the traffic, I severely dislike.

So that's why I'd like to move away at some point. Either to a village, or to a mountain.

Well it's better tp develop public transport (metro, urban railway, tram) rather than widening roads. The thing is that there's no road system that will comprehend all the car users. And also it's a waste of a precious space in city. While public transport is very efficient. Just google about basic city planning principles, you'll find out lots of intersting things

 

[Skylander]

Netherlands. I live in a village though, not a major city.

Speaking as a practicing Architect and trained Urbanist.. I can squarly burst your bubble that the majority of european cities are known for good city planning heh.. especially the major ones like Paris or London or the Hague

There are some good examples. (Copenhagen, Rotterdam/(old) Amsterdam etc.), but, like most cities around the world, its incredibly difficult to organically plan ahead for 10-20 years.. Most Urbanists and architects are Zeitgeist driven, which is how you end up with travesties like Bijlmer or the parisian Baninues.

Visited Russia quite a few times and you do have some proper gems up there really...(Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk) Moscow is an absolute cauldrin though.. heh.

Well, the words of a professional urbanists there are the law. But I'm surprised thag you praise SPb and hate Moscow, 'cuz SPb is degrading a lot recently. Current mayor is very corrupt, and he gets bribes from developers. And metro system there develops 100 times slower than it should've been, ruining public transport, etc. SPb mayor must be executed.

 

[Jetflag]

Well, the words of a professional urbanists there are the law. But I'm surprised thag you praise SPb and hate Moscow, 'cuz SPb is degrading a lot recently. Current mayor is very corrupt, and he gets bribes from developers. And metro system there develops 100 times slower than it should've been, ruining public transport, etc. SPb mayor must be executed.

oh yeah, your (local) politics there are terrible,

But in terms of overall urban planning (street layout, allocation of infrastructure hubs etc.) its still a very good example of a thing done right, despite the current day corruption

 

[Hensmon]

Happy City by Charles Montgomery is an awesome book on city planning, really rated it. Lots of amazing use-cases about planning choices and their negative or positive outcomes certain decisions have. Quite a good argument made for how planning that is environmentally focused not only leads to happier people, but the economies of those areas seem to outperform as well.

One thing that really resonated with me was how America completely fucked itself with roads. So aggressive with the large road systems, which can creat psychologcial zoning and cutting off people from areas of the city. Walking drops dramatically of course and the suburban model soars. No one likes driving to work but Americans have optimized for it. I live in the midwest and its an absolute joke. Huge 4-6 lane roads and coming from a smallish town with winding streets I can really feel how bad it is. I never like walking on those roads, but thats where the stuff is. If I could do one thing in Minneapolis it would be to reduce all roads by 2 lanes minimum. Might get people on the bike instead.

 

[Skylander]

Happy City by Charles Montgomery is an awesome book on city planning, really rated it. Lots of amazing use-cases about planning choices and their negative or positive outcomes certain decisions have. Quite a good argument made for how planning that is environmentally focused not only leads to happier people, but the economies of those areas seem to outperform as well.

One thing that really resonated with me was how America completely fucked itself with roads. So aggressive with the large road systems, which can creat psychologcial zoning and cutting off people from areas of the city. Walking drops dramatically of course and the suburban model soars. No one likes driving to work but Americans have optimized for it. I live in the midwest and its an absolute joke. Huge 4-6 lane roads and coming from a smallish town with winding streets I can really feel how bad it is. I never like walking on those roads, but thats where the stuff is. If I could do one thing in Minneapolis it would be to reduce all roads by 2 lanes minimum. Might get people on the bike instead.

America made lots of mistakes in 60-70s, and now they are in a dead end. Dubai is repeating experience of America btw, although they should've learnt the lesson...

 

[Skylander]

oh yeah, your (local) politics there are terrible,

But in terms of overall urban planning (street layout, allocation of infrastructure hubs etc.) its still a very good example of a thing done right, despite the current day corruption

Btw, I was mistaken. In SPb it's not a mayor, but a governor))) It's messed up

 

[Jetflag]

Not my hometown.

but something to learn from. Top-down-non-organic cities: don’t work.

 

[SleepyBuddah]

My hometown. I love living here but our city council makes it so incredibly hard sometimes to love it.
Like any other place in the world... If they can take money away from the people the will think of everything to get it out of the people's wallets.

 

[Skylander]

Not my hometown.

but something to learn from. Top-down-non-organic cities: don’t work.

You know what my friend told me? To get rid of traffic and gridlocks, you should build more roads

 

[Jetflag]

My hometown. I love living here but our city council makes it so incredibly hard sometimes to love it.
Like any other place in the world... If they can take money away from the people the will think of everything to get it out of the people's wallets.

oh tell me about it...I had the distinct privilege of trying to arrange a permit for a monument renovation in Leiden...

 

[SleepyBuddah]

oh tell me about it...I had the distinct privilege of trying to arrange a permit for a monument renovation in Leiden...

Wait a minute... You ain't going to tell me you're from Leiden as well?

But yeah bureaucracy at it's finest over here. Had the same thing a couple of years ago when they had to do an asbestos removal in my home.

 

[Jetflag]

Wait a minute... You ain't going to tell me you're from Leiden as well?

But yeah bureaucracy at it's finest over here. Had the same thing a couple of years ago when they had to do an asbestos removal in my home.

No alas. Though i did spend a many a night there during my studies. It was an architecture job for my own company, hence

 

[SleepyBuddah]

No alas. Though i did spend a many a night there during my studies. It was an architecture job for my own company, hence

Ah I see