I keep seeing photos of urban renovation in countries other than my own and marveling at the fact that even the "before" photo looks better than most streets in my city.
Over 20 years ago I moved from my native Portugal to The Netherlands.
Then over time I've moved backwards in this - in the sense of moving to countries with progressivelly worse urban planning and increasing pro-vehicle mindsets - first to Britain, then back to Portugal.
It's pretty infuriating when you actually know first hand how it feels to live in a place that doesn't put cars uber alles and are now living in one where its painfully obvious in everything from urban planning to how drivers tend to break mostly the rules that are there to protect pedestrians, that you're in a society which at least in this has a mindset from 40 years ago.
You don't even need to go live somewhere else; just visit.
I'm from Canada and went back to visit Germany and Belgium a few months ago. I already went to Germany and the Netherlands a few years ago and just used the trains. I had no fixed itinerary and was deciding where to go a day in advance before buying a train ticket to go there. It was obviously fine (most of the time) but because of how trains "work" here, I was anxious about buying tickets a day in advance, thinking it was "last minute".
Then while I was in Belgium I had to plan a train ride in Canada a week later, and there was no affordable tickets left. I was sitting in LiĂšge, and just bought a train ticket to Bruxelles that was departing in the next hour... while trying to book a train a week in advance in Canada, and failing to do so.
Every time I have to use a train in Canada, or just any kind or intercity service, even a coach, I'm painfully reminded of how bad it is here.
This is Haussmannien architecture, it looks pretty and unfiform because the prefect of Napoleon III in the 19th century got the permission to destroy most of the shitty medieval districts with poor people inside and build good looking housing with modern accomodations for rich people instead. That's largely why Paris is pretty today.
I mean, it also has to be a little bit because they didn't let the car companies demolish the whole city and replace it with parking lots in the 1960s, right?
While this is nice, I do not really see any places where one can now cross the street?
Some cut-outs for pedestrians would probably be helpful for people who need to access a building on the other side.
I don't mean crosswalks, I mean places where people can cut through the greenery to get to the "road".
As it stands now I don't see a way for people to actually get to the other side of the street.
Maybe they exist, but I don't see them in the picture..
Definitely agreed. Strictly better than cars, but there has to be something we're missing here, else this is a huuuge pain in the ass for literally no reason.
I have to disagree. Amenities such as benchs, and playgrounds can be place into the next street but there is a need to add important vegetation at least in some streets of dense urban environment to deal with heat wave and flood issues.
This looks great, but I feel like the trees might become a problem to the adjacent buildings when they mature, unless theyâre the type of trees that only grow tall and skinny?
Were I live there is a tendency to put trees in holes (about 1m wide) on the road side of the sidewalk - which puts them at least 1m away from the houses, generally more - and unless they get really tall (20m + tall) their roots are only really a problem for the sidewalk itself (which gets raised and bumpy) and even in this it depends on the kind of tree (so, for example, pine or oak are a problem but not orange trees).
I don't remember even seeing even the kind of brick wall that might surround a property cracked due to such nearby trees, much less actual buildings. Mind you, buildings over here are made of brick and concrete and have actual foundations.
Not every tree essence grows as much as oak. I know some linden trees, older than I am, that were pruned properly one or twice a year and have kept a manageable size. I think hackberry tree don't get much thick with time and there essences of tree that are chosen to be put in the street because they don't grow that much in European climate.
Yes and no. Yes because fuck big corps that buy houses and set rent price to achieve fill factor of 0.7, no because very these corps buy cheap dirty houses, renovate them, and double the rent.
You see, politicians are all just impotent victims and there is nothing at all they can do to control rents and cool down house price bubbles and their inaction (or even actions that help stoke the prices up) have nothing to do with them putting first and foremost the further enrichment of those who have the most riches /s
I think your statment here is actual in reverse of what you may want to point out.
An increase in rent shows a induced demand for the property. More people are wanting to live in this location, thus the rents have gone up because of this demand. The rent did not go up because of the cost of installing those trees, but because the trees are there.
Similarly homes located near public parks, schools, hospitals, or transit may have a higher price tag because more people want said properties.
In London you can literally spot where the subway stations are from a map of rent prices since prices within an area go up the closer a place is to the tube.
An increase in rent shows a induced demand for the property.
Nope. Increase in rent shows the pumped up scarcity.
More people are wanting to live in this location, thus the rents have gone up because of this demand.
Again nope. You are spreading propaganda without knowing it. Rent is driven by rental algorithms like Yardi and Realpage. Supply and demand do not work if the property is in the hands of few that calculate their prices using the same database and the same algorithms.