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October 8, 2004

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Parking Lot Primer

Via Matthew Yglesias: a simple illustration of urban vs. suck-urban design.

I mean, sub-urban design.

I’m particularly struck by this image because I’ve been driving in San Francisco this evening, and am amazed by the life on (some of) the streets.

Of course, in S.F. there are no parking lots anywhere, so never mind.

Good comments on both blogs.

Robin-sig.gif
Posted October 8, 2004 at 3:19 | Comments (1) | Permasnark
File under: Snarkpolicy

Comments

You have to remember that new urbanism isn't about creating genuine, established metropoles like NYC or San Francisco, it's about copying hip, successful small towns -- think Royal Oak, Birmingham, or Rochester in MI, or someplace like Palo Alto in CA, or the Manayunk neighborhood here in Philly.

Most cities don't have enough mass or density to support mass transit or a large, vehicle-less population, so you need to figure out a way to get people to drive from their homes, park in the "downtown," and still want to walk, shop, and hang out in the area. New urbanism provides an efficient and aesthetically pleasing way to utilize space and solve this problem.

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