Quote:
Originally Posted by Riverman
It isn't urban design, it's suburban design. It is like this because this is what buyers of suburban homes want.
I just moved into a neighbourhood just like this and moved from your "urban ideal". The front driveway and also community mailboxes cause far more engagement with the neighbours than any garbage-strewn back lane would.
Plus, all the urbanists keep bitching about building new neighbourhoods being unsustainable. Now you want to double road maintainence by adding back lanes?
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By definition, suburban design is form of urban design.
Well, that was your choice, but it is almost universally acknowledged that such a built environment is unhealthy. I really like some of the new developments that I've seen recently in places such as Oakville, Ontario or parts of the suburban Twin Cities. A variety of architectural styles that do not give primary emphasis to auto storage, mixed development, so for example single family homes of varying sizes with townhouses, and an effort to integrate construction with art and nature, so for example installation of fountains or public art (sculpture or even a small clock tower, very neat!) in traffic circles and preserving old trees by building around them. Also, not every construct is beige, which looks beyond dreadful for the majority of the year in this climate. It is still terrible but not quite as so in places like Phoenix or Palm Springs.
Speaking of universally, I find that almost without fail people that I know or have met that live in such areas become as cookie-cutter and monotonous as their surroundings. They are the ones constantly bitching about "the traffic, the traffic", "taxes, taxes" and "gas is outrageous" (but still drive up to the drive through every day, perhaps even several times). Little do they realize that it is they that are being subsidized by older and more sustainable areas of the city.