Comments on: Planning and Density: Who’s Forcing Whom? http://la.streetsblog.org/2009/09/18/planning-and-density-who%e2%80%99s-forcing-whom/ Covering Los Angeles's livable streets movement Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:06:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: DJB http://la.streetsblog.org/2009/09/18/planning-and-density-who%e2%80%99s-forcing-whom/comment-page-1/#comment-32461 DJB Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:16:36 +0000 http://la.streetsblog.org/?p=11911#comment-32461 It's a basic choice: Suburbia - Very little is within walking or biking distance and transit service is infrequent because of the lack of density. Destinations are spread out, trips are long and almost all of them are by car. Cities - Things are within walking and biking distance, better transit service can be supported, and trips are shorter. Significant numbers of people use more than one mode of transportation. People don't behave the same way in cities as they do in suburbs. It's not that urban people are that different, it's that they face a different set of conditions that are built into the urban form. Cities make it easier to use a car less, or do without it altogether. As far as I'm concerned, building suburbs is like saying "please drive as much as possible". It’s a basic choice:

Suburbia – Very little is within walking or biking distance and transit service is infrequent because of the lack of density. Destinations are spread out, trips are long and almost all of them are by car.

Cities – Things are within walking and biking distance, better transit service can be supported, and trips are shorter. Significant numbers of people use more than one mode of transportation.

People don’t behave the same way in cities as they do in suburbs. It’s not that urban people are that different, it’s that they face a different set of conditions that are built into the urban form. Cities make it easier to use a car less, or do without it altogether.

As far as I’m concerned, building suburbs is like saying “please drive as much as possible”.

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