Living Car Free - auto-centric

this from BikePortland.org
http://bikeportland.org/2009/11/20/gordon-price-on-rise-of-motordom-and-its-urban-impacts/
a quote: " Building bikeways will only get us so far, we must begin to institute policies that discourage automobile use."

and

Taken for a Ride:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2486235784907931000#

(i've posted this video before... apologies for the redundancy)

I thought some of the interesting comments made below were better than the article:

from the comments section:

>>>>>>Due to the inevitable high cost of long commutes, the real challenge of the American suburbs is (IMHO) to prevent them from turning into slums.

The "easy" (and painful) path is to just let urban areas invert. Jobs will move to central cities, and living in central cities will be highly preferred due to lack of reliance on automobiles for most activity.

Without sound planning, this will make living in central cities expensive, meaning those with fewer means will have to move into the places being vacated - the suburbs. And this population will become even more disadvantaged because of the (potentially expensive) transportation options to get to the central city where jobs, shopping, and services will be primarliy located.

To avoid this sort of scenario, our urban leaders need to realize that without wise urban design, this is the inevitable outcome. And I am not convinced that, on a national scale in the US, these leaders truly understand this at present.
<<<<<<<<<<<<

This has happend already in Paris and New York City. Only the wealthy can live in the center and everyone else lives in the burbs which are getting more expensive all the time. At the moment, inexpensive bus and train makes it practical but one day, these modes of transport will get expensive. Very expensive.

People can and will not be able to live 25 miles away from the city. At that point, we'll have to tear down those massive highways that surround our cities and construct affordable housing.

Without sound planning, this will make living in central cities expensive, meaning those with fewer means will have to move into the places being vacated - the suburbs. And this population will become even more disadvantaged because of the (potentially expensive) transportation options to get to the central city where jobs, shopping, and services will be primarliy located.


Some of the reasons why you have such expensive real estate in the center of the city is that everyone wants a 3000 sq fit condo. A high density population really can sustain those kinds of square footage. On top of that, consider the real estate required for automobile parking, both on street and in parking garages. When we consider the population, we really need to consider both human and automobile population. It's that figure that should elucidate why this real estate is so expensive.

Some of the reasons why you have such expensive real estate in the center of the city is that everyone wants a 3000 sq fit condo. A high density population really can sustain those kinds of square footage. On top of that, consider the real estate required for automobile parking, both on street and in parking garages. When we consider the population, we really need to consider both human and automobile population. It's that figure that should elucidate why this real estate is so expensive.

Donald Shoup
http://www.streetfilms.org/dr-shoup-parking-guru/

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4622062

http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/