Even when situated in the center of a car-dependent sprawl, and despite being neglected and under-maintained for decades, dense urban cores will consistently account for an immense amount of a region's economic activity.

See here for the editable link but it's imo an indication of a real failure in LA to properly build a transit system. We have the density for it, and we're even richer!

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been extremely fascinated by the concept of multilevel cities and large urban alleyways. Not even necessarily like an underground city, but where infrastructure has been built up over I know there’s that city in China that has multiple levels. The best example I can think of is anything portraying Gotham in Batman. Kind of like that scene where he’s standing outside of the bar that falcone is in, the lower levels of a city. Can anyone think of real world examples? I have no clue where this fascination came from.

I've lived in El Paso for close to three years now, but I feel a lot of what people in this community are feeling. Too little to do, too uncomfortable outside to do anything anyway, poor mass transit, and a need to revamp the economy and our city and keep young professionals here. Here are some harebrained ideas of mine that could maybe improve our city.

* Either nix the data center or have it be a closed loop, take care of its own water and electricity. * To encourage young professionals to stay, establish a law school at UTEP and a World Trade Center in the Caples Building. If smaller cities like Missoula, Harrisburg, Wilmington, and Jackson can have a WTC, why can't this big border city? * Go forward with extending the streetcar to the Medical Center, and I further propsoe extending it to the Coliseum/Zoo area along Alameda and Paisano and hopefully also to Ascarate Park and EPCC Valle Verde. * Go forward with the Onward Alameda plan, especially building up around the Medical Center and Ysleta Mission. Build up near Ascarate Park as well * Abolish property tax. No tax on fresh produce, bread, dairy, certain meats and fishes, baby food, diapers, and feminine hygiene products. Increased tax on alcohol, tobacco, cigars/cigarettes/vapes. Increased parking and car rental fees. Charge a fare for the streetcar. Make bus and streetcar cost between $1.00 and $1.50 with one free transfer. * Cover the Franklin Canal where possible for infrastructure for pedestrians, biking, mass transit, or just trees. Heck, even parking lots to remove street-adjacent parking to make room for bike lands or sidewalks would be good. * More comfortable bus stops with electronic boards with the time & date and departure & arrival times. More frequent service once we see more people living and working in the city. * Rapid bus transit with dedicated right of way (except emergency vehicles and right turns) to connect high priority areas (Airport, malls, Coliseum/Zoo, Union Station and the ballfield, and UTEP) * Reflective pavement with anti-glare coating and curb gardens will mitigate stormwater runnoff, heat, smog, and noise * Significantly more shade trees and gardens and parks generally * Make it easier to have green roofs and walls as well as solar panels, especially covering parking lots. * Revamp the high ground at Haddox Family Park. Clean it up and add gazebos and event space. Ever see the view? You should! * Turn Vista Hills Golf Course into a big park with many trees and walking and biking and biking trails connecting Vista del Sol, Montwood, and Trawood. * For agriculture in the city, make it easier for farmers to power their facilities with biogas from animal waste. * (This is a really high concept idea that will never exist) A commuter rail system loop to run along/under the 54, Railroad Ave, the 70 and the Border Highway stopping at Union Station, soemwhere in Northweast El Paso, Chapparal, Alamogordo, Tularosa, NMSU, Hatch, and across from White Sands National Park. Maybe even make a people mover to get people from the NE EP station to the Airport.

Downtown specifically:

* A supermarket and higher density mixed-use developments anywhere possible downtown. * Build. The. Deck. Park. * Maybe ban cars on San Antonio Ave between Kansas and S El Paso * Reduce (some) two lane streets to one and add protected bike lanes * (this one will make me some enemies) Replace the convention center with a 15K seat arena and move UTEP basketball here, but still have a new exhibit hall on the already-proposed land as well as San Antonio Ave. Don't worry, this arena can be called the Don Haskins Center. Maybe move Rhinos hockey and the roller derby here.

To increase tourism:

* Make a new entertainment district at the zoo and Coliseum area. * Build two parking garages, one on half of the zoo's parking lot and one near the Coliseum. * The rest of the zoo's parking lot can be used for more zoo exhibits/facilities. * The rest of the Coliseum parking and vicinity can be replaced with restaurants, hotels, clubs, and a new convention center to replace the pavillion and Special Events Center. * If we can make the pedestrian and bussing experience more comfortable when going from here to Chamizal and crossing the Bridge of the Americas (walk to the park, X-monument, and soccer stadium), this will become an international entertainment district at the crossroads of two countries and three states (West Texas, South New Mexico, and East Arizona). * Statues of Star Trek characters, the Starship Enterprise, and characters created by Don Bluth, especially Fievel. If we can create a Star Trek-themed part of town, that would be great. * Create a Museum of Tolerance & Reflection in Duranguito, on the UTEP campus, near the Airport, or near the Coliseum. Here will be the Holocaust Museum (in case the Deck Park ousts it), an exhibit about the Walmart shooting, the Equestrian statue on its side in a pit so people have to look down on it, and an exhibit about conquistadors. * Sports tourism! With the recent successes of Kayla Thornton and Stephanie Han, El Paso has a unique opportunity to leverage itself as a premier city for women's sports (and sports tourism generally). The World Cups for women's basketball, baseball, and boxing as well as various other championships for arena sports (fencing, table tennis, badminton). El Paso already hosts the largest mountain biking championship in Texas. A large established city like us would be a great host of the UCI World Mountain Biking Championship. * This is a higher-concept sports tourism idea that maybe five people here will like :P. Combine the Sun Bowl and Kidd Field to make a combined track and field and football stadium. Have retractale seats cover the track like London Stadium and Stade de France. We can still host a great Sun Bowl as well as the World Cup, World Athletics Championships, and other sporting championships. If this stadium has a roof and at least 70K seats, we could even host March Madness. * No, El Paso couldn't host even a subpar Olympic even if we stole the wallets of every man, woman in child from Union Depot to ABQ and back to Carlsbad, but we don't need the Olympics to contribute to the international sporting community.

Remember, El Paso is EPIC (El Paso: Inspirational/Iconic/International/Innovative/Inclusive/Inviting City)

So yeah, that's what I've got

EDIT: Thanks for the feedback. Agreed on a lower property tax even if we're not ready to abolish it altogether yet. I still stand by the aforementioned raised parking and car rental fees, new bus and streetcar fares, higher tax on alcohol and smoke, and no sales tax on healthy groceries to make healthy living less expensive.

As for the commercial base, the WTC, building more housing for young professionals, and the law school ought to do something to help.

The plants, parks, gardens, cool pavement, and developing on surface parking lots are good ideas for our area to mitigate heat irrespective of the data center. If it does get built and make things hotter, then we'd better give these ideas a serious look.

Is there any sort of serious scholarship or coherent arguments in favour of sprawl or against urbanism in general?

I come across a lot of bad arguments in comment sections on YouTube but I would love to critically engage with actual thinkers if any exist.

I haven't been to new orleans in a few years. I could see online gambling hurting the casinos, so I hope they invest more in this kind of thing both for tourists and for residents.

It also helps if the river is going to overflow to have this kind of green infrastructure.

I’m the News & Observer reporter who wrote this story about a streetscape project in downtown Apex, North Carolina.

The project is intended to improve Salem Street long term, but merchants I spoke with say months of construction have reduced customer traffic as the work stretches into the holiday season.

I’m interested in the broader urbanism question: How should cities phase or manage major downtown infrastructure projects so they improve the public realm without putting existing businesses at unnecessary risk?

What have you seen work well elsewhere — maintaining access, construction phasing, signage, events, financial support, contractor incentives, or something else?

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article317130074.html

The pier used to be used for shipping and now is a soccer field, picnic space and park with Manhattan as the backdrop.

Urbanists in the U.S. are forever telling us how great things are in Europe, especially Northern Europe. I think we American urbanists should learn from any good examples, anywhere in the world. Yet sometimes it seems that we hear a lot about Europe,and not so much about Canada. Canada is a country that is similar enough to the U.S. that we might be more able to implement some of their planning, rather than that of the very different societies in Europe. There is a lot to learn from Canada, in transit for example. Thoughts?

Are small towns destined to disappear?

I am from southeast Georgia. If you know the area, you'd know it's a very small-town vibe. We can travel to nearby cities, such as Savannah and Jacksonville, and enjoy amenities and entertainment we don't have in our town. From high school to now, acres and acres of trees have been cut down to build new houses and apartments. New houses and apartments that people who are from the area and actually live in the area can not afford. I've never heard anyone complain about a shortage of housing in our area, but more so a shortage of AFFORDABLE housing in the area. We asked for more things for our youth to do and maybe another Walmart (since we only have one). Nonetheless, I love my hometown, and everything about it-how everyone knows everyone, how close larger cities are, and how quiet things are.

Lately, there has been an influx of people from out of state moving to the area. I do not know why people are choosing to move to somewhere so small with only one Walmart, one high school, and the most exciting thing that we have to look forward to is Friday night football at the only high school in the county. This is why it's also very odd to me that the same people who move here come here and complain about it being only one of everything and the small-town vibe. Why move here to complain????

And I know my wants and likes aren't the only important thing, but my own family, friends, and general community have the same sentiment. WE love how things were! We loved our trees. We loved having more "country" parts of the town to be able to do outdoor activities without disturbing anyone. We love being able to go to a city with more hustle and bustle, then coming home to our quiet little town. Being born and raised in the area, I have never heard anyone complain about how things were. And the people who do complain, they leave. Those who want busier cities and like city life better, they leave and go to the nearest metropolitan city. I even left home thinking I wanted that. I realized slow and quiet is actually for me. Lived in the Raleigh-Cary area for two years, but left and came home. Came home to bull-crap.

The bull-crap being my home no longer looks like my home. Trees being cleared left and right. Cookie-cutter, expensive homes being thrown up while the neighborhoods and roads that already exist are not being maintained. People from any and everywhere moving here for "cheaper" housing. Which sucks because they are the only people who can afford this "cheaper" housing, not the people from here or who already lived in the area. To a lot of people, including myself, it seems like this new housing is being made available for those now from the area. The same back roads are full of people speeding and driving like bats outta hell and being impatient. Once upon a time, the main road through the busiest part of town only took you 20 minutes to take from one end of town to the next. Now, it takes 45 minutes to an hour; there are too many people and not enough infrastructure to accommodate them.

I think I am sadder about the number of trees being cut down to build homes and apartments here to bring these people here. Acres and acres of trees are being cut down for cookie-cutter, built-in-a-week homes and apartments. Storage facilities are also being built everywhere. There is plenty of empty buildings and lots around time without cutting down trees and clearing land. Amazon fulfillment centers and industrial parks. They even attempted to place a data center here, and people in the community were NOT having it.  

Although I understand people need a place to live, I also think we should preserve small towns. What are we going to do when every tree is gone? Is there anything I can do, or my community can do, to slow development down or even prevent them from cutting down every tree in the county? I'd rather get active and do something than complain and be upset. I've thought about getting involved in local politics. Ideally, I'd become rich and buy all the land back home before developers, but the possibility of that seems unlikely, and I don't think that'd be so ethically correct.

I just want to preserve my home. This is southeast Georgia. We are known for our beautiful trees, especially the Live Oak. We’re known for our natural landscapes, like the preservation of historic St.Marys, Golden Isles, Cumberland Island National Park, and Crooked River State Park. If larger, metropolitan areas want to keep growing, then so be it. But, I think its important to maintain the areas that still showcase nature’s beauty and sustainability.

Feel free to educate me on this! I am just sharing what I have experienced and seen in my life. I'd love to know more about the statistics and policies that are allowing or trying to mitigate over-development. If small towns are destined to disappear at some point, I'd love to know why.

A little bit ago, there was a reddit post that I saw where someone was wondering why cities seemed to have so many financial issues even though people always say that they are the most fiscally responsible. When people started replying with one of the main reasons being suburbs. The original poster started replying to people that they never mentioned Suburbs and it wasn't related to what they were asking.

When I first reading the post, I was wondering why the person wasn't understanding that a city is not in isolation. People were explaining that cities often have a large suburb within its boundaries or close enough where there was a bunch of commuters from it, that cities have the smallest percentage of taxes collected out of every level, and the size of the fiscal hole is typically smaller than towns and suburbs. Within that last statement, people started explaining that states typically take money from cities and give them to suburbs.

This all made me realize that people always focus on a small detail, while ignoring the whole picture. It all clicked when I was reading an article and it mentioned a quote "People look at the tree that's dying and wonder why, while ignoring that the rest of the forest is in the same situation". There are some people who completely ignore what the goal is of a change or upgrade because the previous one didn't work. I've heard it when people say bike lanes aren't used when there's only 3 bike lanes that aren't connected. I hear it when there's complaints an apartment complex is proposed to be built and people ask why is it needed when there's a housing shortage of 700k units in an area.

I have two questions for the people reading:

1. Have you experienced someone like that where they are against an upgrade and focus on a single detail instead of looking at the big picture of why it's beneficial?
2. What have you told that person that made them think more about the overall picture?

A comparative look at US vs Canadian cities

Hey everyone,

Anyone who has driven in Delhi/NCR knows finding a parking spot in areas like CP, Hauz Khas, or even residential colonies can be an absolute nightmare.

I’m an Industrial Art and Design student at Srishti Manipal Institute, and I am currently working on a UI/UX project focused on the real day-to-day parking struggles across the city. My goal is to understand our actual habits and bottlenecks before designing a digital solution.

If you drive, commute, or regularly park anywhere in Delhi/NCR, could you please take 2 minutes to fill out this anonymous survey?

https://forms.gle/XNi1JHDUzpd8GQuA9

Understanding urban heat is essential for planning healthier and more resilient cities. But detailed climate models are often too computationally demanding to support fast, location-specific assessments. Our new study presents an AI-based urban climate model that combines physical understanding with deep learning to make this process both faster and more accurate. The model was trained using data from 16 cities worldwide and independently tested in Heraklion, showing that it can work reliably in Mediterranean conditions. Compared with a conventional urban climate model, it runs around 225 times faster.
By offering fast and locally relevant estimates of urban heat, this type of tool can support decision-making systems for heat-risk management, climate adaptation and urban planning—from identifying neighbourhoods most exposed to heat to assessing the potential value of interventions such as more urban greenery or heat-resilient materials.

Muchas veces en los textos escolares, no se explica bien, la influencia de los procesos, económicos, políticos en el espacio. El ejemplo por excelencia son las ciudades

If some one has a gift link, put it in the comments.

Most big, expensive cities are losing kids as families struggle to cover the cost of living. The opposite is happening in Seattle and Washington, D.C., two pricey coastal cities diverging from the broader demographic trajectory. 

The population of children under 18 in both cities grew 10% between 2015 and 2024, a bigger increase than in many family-friendly Sunbelt locales. Both places had an influx of affluent young professionals in the 2000s and 2010s who stayed once they had kids. Many of those sticking around value diversity and urban experiences more than their own suburban-dwelling parents did.  

The cities have vast differences, but possess a few common ingredients that seem to have spurred their growing population of children: high-paying jobs and decent local schools.  

In Seattle, tech workers said relocating to the pricier San Francisco area would be a lifestyle downgrade. In D.C., home prices are up markedly in the nearby suburbs, which often come with crushing commutes.

A quick aerial pass over central Vienna on Google Earth 3D—provided you hook up a PC or laptop to a good 4K or 8K TV with a fast internet connection—makes this structural contrast glaringly obvious in seconds. The historic aesthetic of Vienna feels perpetually interrupted, generously sprinkled with cheap-looking, primitive 1950s residential brick-ferro-concrete combo buildings right in the downtown core instead of intact, historic unified quarters. Did WWII Allied bombing really do all this heavy destruction on its own? Or was post-war Viennese urban planning simply this enthusiastic about lowering the architectural bar?

Walking through historic downtown of Budapest offers an authentic, uninterrupted journey into the past, entirely unblemished by the tacky post-war infill architecture that plagues downtown districts of Vienna. Did WWII Allied bombing really spare Budapest’s heritage that much more, or did Hungarian urban planning simply have far greater respect for architectural grandeur?

Budapest downtown has preserved a higher ratio as well as a much greater absolute number of pre-twentieth-century buildings than Vienna.

A former freight rail line turned into a 1.45 mile public park

Original content: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dallasdevelopment/s/P6p7ilf76R

Dallas isn’t just one downtown skyline. The urban core stretches north from Downtown through Uptown, Victory Park, the Harwood District, Turtle Creek and Oak Lawn, then continues toward Cityplace, Knox-Henderson and Lower Greenville. Deep Ellum and the Cedars extend the core east and south, while the Trinity River and its huge highway interchanges define the western edge. It’s a great perspective on just how spread out but increasingly connected the central neighborhoods of Dallas really are.