So what is Urbanism to you?
This video does a decent job trying to "define" urbanism, which is an umbrella term. When I try to think of how I define it, I get a lot of things I like that come to mind: transit, walkability, social spaces, but I have a hard time "defining" it. So, what does it mean to you?
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I don't really have urbanism viewpoint but Im a city boy by most peoples persepctive and would be more of one if I could afford to live downtown. Biggest reason is transit. I would be sad if I had to live outside of a true metro system that runs regularly and 24x7 even if the wee hours its somewhat of a wait. Then like walkability as I should be able to get most daily essentials without having to get on a bus/train/bike to pick it up. Next would be ironically nature. Public spaces with enough nature that I can still feel like a person and plenty of plants and trees everywhere so I don't feel like its all just concrete. Then we get into other infrastructure. Internet I think would be next there followed by hospitals and then libraries and then schools. I could do without the cars but my wife couldn't.
Sounds like we're going to get alone fine. Personally I'm not against cars - but they should be one of many, many options, and I'd like to see them as the non-first option, for only places not served by transit (and used as a tool to see where transit should be built). Affordability I hugely agree is a big deal, and I'd like to see more variance with zoning laws to allow us to become denser.
Long ago I heard a guy talk about expressways and how initially there long distances between exits but then as suburbs grew more and more wanted exits of convenience near them at it just caused more and more sprawl. I think he was basically saying it never should have had exits that were not miles apart rather than less than a mile.
Ah the age old "if it's not convenient to me then what's the point" argument. But then stores come in and want an exit for their shoppers, a new development demands an exit or they won't build, and then slowly it becomes just another road.
When I think Urbanism I think nature/nature-adjacent trails connecting city monuments/POIs and dammit how can I push my city to invest more in that approach. Ever since visiting a few green-centric cities in northern Oregon I've been hooked on the idea.
I'll be posting more of that content soon, but there are already groups who try to push those same agendas from the ground up. Check out Strong Towns to see if there's already a local group, or at the very least they have a ton of great info on how to start pushing agendas locally. Local government is weird, usually they only hear the loudest people so the status quo stays in place. It only takes a few people to start making change.
Hell yeah great attitude. I think I've seen their youtube channel, I'll check out the site, thanks!