The problem with suburbia in America is that it's become so ingrained in our culture that people don't see alternatives. They don't see the benefits of building more culturally defining architecture, of building a city that youd wanna live in, not get away from, of building houses and housing complexes in closer proximity to amenities and services. I think of the suburbs like little colonies: they have their grocery store for food and drink 5-10 minutes away driving, they have Walmart for other cheap goods, and they have variety big box stores everywhere. Your car is like your horse that you use to explore the land, because everything else is too spread out. The problem lends itself to homogeneity, over-sprawling, and utilitarian mindsets for everything. Not everything has to be regimented in a militaristic manner. Ironically, this suburban sprawl has also helped cause the US obesity pandemic. Growing up, I was told to go out more, but I played video games all the time. Because there was NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.
Your comment is really perceptive. We talk about the Suburban Experiment as a rigid application of military-adjacent planning (post-war demobilization tactics were at the core of the early suburban development practice) which resulted in an orderly but dumb approach to building communities. Our argument is that traditional development has always been chaotic, messy, and smart -- unleashing the 'spooky wisdom' of tens of thousands of hands over time.
My city had to get a grant from the county to fix 4 streets in my neighborhood and replace water lines sewer lines, storm sewer lines, and sidewalks. They just don't have the money. Almost 20 years ago they annexed an area from an adjacent Twp then permitted a large cul-de-sac residential neighborhood to go in. That bill is coming due soon.
The desire of Capital markets to seek the highest return at the lowest risk pushes populations into 8 metros. All driven by utilitarian aims. Ex. Amazon would much rather service a million people from 1 building than 5 smaller buildings serving 200k each. Transport costs are huge today and principals of agglomeration favor metros which favor corporate relocations expansions in metros. The majority of the US population in 8 and then as trends continue, 5-6 metros is the complete opposite of an anti fragile economy. Americans criticize China for doing the same thing by government edicts, that capital markets do today in the US. Net effect is the same.
I have seen this cycle play out in many areas in my +40 years of life. Many just move to a cheaper place n just keep the cycle going. I really don’t know how the it ends. Maybe with higher interest rates 🤷♂️ I’ve taken the opinion that higher property taxes r not necessarily bad. In these many ‘low tax’ states they get u in many other ways. Sales tax, greater transport cost, and eventually higher housing cost, not mention yearly tax on vehicles, higher insurance (depending on location). Areas in the South have already reached a point where home prices r unaffordable, even for the well to do Yankees. Also since the property taxes r so low it won’t take much for a doubling or tripling of taxes. The transplants will complain but still pay (cheaper then NYS). These transplants will find that COL will catch up with them in the supposedly cheaper places (assuming they live long enough).
Those damn don't know how to properly use watertaps! - that would be interesting to hear. I hate your conclusions but they are probably the best we're going to get with problems that are above a certain complexity.
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![Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07]](/img/tr.png)
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The problem with suburbia in America is that it's become so ingrained in our culture that people don't see alternatives. They don't see the benefits of building more culturally defining architecture, of building a city that youd wanna live in, not get away from, of building houses and housing complexes in closer proximity to amenities and services.
I think of the suburbs like little colonies: they have their grocery store for food and drink 5-10 minutes away driving, they have Walmart for other cheap goods, and they have variety big box stores everywhere. Your car is like your horse that you use to explore the land, because everything else is too spread out.
The problem lends itself to homogeneity, over-sprawling, and utilitarian mindsets for everything. Not everything has to be regimented in a militaristic manner. Ironically, this suburban sprawl has also helped cause the US obesity pandemic. Growing up, I was told to go out more, but I played video games all the time. Because there was NOWHERE ELSE TO GO.
Your comment is really perceptive. We talk about the Suburban Experiment as a rigid application of military-adjacent planning (post-war demobilization tactics were at the core of the early suburban development practice) which resulted in an orderly but dumb approach to building communities. Our argument is that traditional development has always been chaotic, messy, and smart -- unleashing the 'spooky wisdom' of tens of thousands of hands over time.
My city had to get a grant from the county to fix 4 streets in my neighborhood and replace water lines sewer lines, storm sewer lines, and sidewalks. They just don't have the money. Almost 20 years ago they annexed an area from an adjacent Twp then permitted a large cul-de-sac residential neighborhood to go in. That bill is coming due soon.
The desire of Capital markets to seek the highest return at the lowest risk pushes populations into 8 metros. All driven by utilitarian aims. Ex. Amazon would much rather service a million people from 1 building than 5 smaller buildings serving 200k each. Transport costs are huge today and principals of agglomeration favor metros which favor corporate relocations expansions in metros. The majority of the US population in 8 and then as trends continue, 5-6 metros is the complete opposite of an anti fragile economy. Americans criticize China for doing the same thing by government edicts, that capital markets do today in the US. Net effect is the same.
I have seen this cycle play out in many areas in my +40 years of life. Many just move to a cheaper place n just keep the cycle going. I really don’t know how the it ends. Maybe with higher interest rates 🤷♂️
I’ve taken the opinion that higher property taxes r not necessarily bad. In these many ‘low tax’ states they get u in many other ways. Sales tax, greater transport cost, and eventually higher housing cost, not mention yearly tax on vehicles, higher insurance (depending on location).
Areas in the South have already reached a point where home prices r unaffordable, even for the well to do Yankees. Also since the property taxes r so low it won’t take much for a doubling or tripling of taxes. The transplants will complain but still pay (cheaper then NYS). These transplants will find that COL will catch up with them in the supposedly cheaper places (assuming they live long enough).
You can say the same thing with unhoused
Those damn don't know how to properly use watertaps! - that would be interesting to hear. I hate your conclusions but they are probably the best we're going to get with problems that are above a certain complexity.