The root cause of the problem is that the people making the decisions are not really considering the needs of the population, but instead catering to the people who are making money off the decisions that are reached.
People creating housing developments are wanting to capitalize on scale. That means either building on far away properties…
The root cause of the problem is that the people making the decisions are not really considering the needs of the population, but instead catering to the people who are making money off the decisions that are reached.
People creating housing developments are wanting to capitalize on scale. That means either building on far away properties that can be bought cheaply with no infrastructure to make them livable or in ultra dense housing that makes for expensive development and congestion.
The way that they get away with it is through weaponized zoning. Historically, many people had their homes built in as part of a business. Maybe a shop or office with living quarters upstairs. Maybe they had a couple extra apartments built in as well. Many people had a home with an extra apartment over the garage or in a basement. Now, those are a relic of history. All development is restricted to large scale developers who also have plenty of money to fund elections to make sure that they are favored in all the decisions made. That doesn't include the effects of corruption.
Once living quarters are separated from where people make a living, people need transportation whether private or public. The consolidation of retail businesses has not helped in this. You get a retailer that comes into a community that buys property out where it is cheap and people need transportation to get to them. This drives the small businesses out and only makes the problems worse. You end up either out in a distant suburban development without any infrastructure or in a dense urban environment where the small businesses have been driven out. Either way, you need transportation to get to far away retail locations.
Simply saying that city planning is the solution ignores the fact that it is city planning that has created the problem.
The root cause of the problem is that the people making the decisions are not really considering the needs of the population, but instead catering to the people who are making money off the decisions that are reached.
People creating housing developments are wanting to capitalize on scale. That means either building on far away properties that can be bought cheaply with no infrastructure to make them livable or in ultra dense housing that makes for expensive development and congestion.
The way that they get away with it is through weaponized zoning. Historically, many people had their homes built in as part of a business. Maybe a shop or office with living quarters upstairs. Maybe they had a couple extra apartments built in as well. Many people had a home with an extra apartment over the garage or in a basement. Now, those are a relic of history. All development is restricted to large scale developers who also have plenty of money to fund elections to make sure that they are favored in all the decisions made. That doesn't include the effects of corruption.
Once living quarters are separated from where people make a living, people need transportation whether private or public. The consolidation of retail businesses has not helped in this. You get a retailer that comes into a community that buys property out where it is cheap and people need transportation to get to them. This drives the small businesses out and only makes the problems worse. You end up either out in a distant suburban development without any infrastructure or in a dense urban environment where the small businesses have been driven out. Either way, you need transportation to get to far away retail locations.
Simply saying that city planning is the solution ignores the fact that it is city planning that has created the problem.