[snakeyjake]

Whenever I come across a "density Density DENSITY" story I do some looking at the background of the individuals running/promoting the effort.

I'll go to the "our team" and "about us" page of the org, look at who runs it and then google them and find the interview they did five years ago in their palatial suburban estate, sitting jauntily atop a stool next to the island in their 500 square foot kitchen.

They are all hyper-rich arrogant dickheads who want the masses stacked on top of each other in habicubes where they have to listen to couples fighting, smell the stench of their neighbor's disgusting cooking, and feel constant compression from crowding shoulder to shoulder up against each other as they march from their in-office job to their tiny, cramped, habicube.

My only question is why the rich dickheads who run media outlets and non-profits obsessed with turning everyone into the renter of a high-density nightmare hovel doesn't take their own medicine?

Why are they giving interviews to Dwell or A+U about how everyone should live in a dense city from inside their gated 30,000 square foot fortress of solitude?

There's a reason that the first thing anyone, anywhere, does when they get some money is buy an SUV or (in Europe and Japan) a station wagon and move out to an American-style suburb.

Once you get out of your "hip young urban professional" or "broke-ass" phase you realize the only thing that matters is sitting by yourself in a lawn chair on your wasteful suburban Bermuda grass lawn watching the sprinkler move back and forth in peace and fucking quiet.

[teucris]

You may be speaking from your experience, which is valid, but please don’t extrapolate to everyone. People want and value different things, and the way the US is set up makes it very hard for many to get the kind of environment they would value. I want walkability and density, but not urban high rises, and that kind of place could exist more if we had more non-car infrastructure, as roads force sprawl.

[BryantD]

I can't speak to whether or not this is still the case, but in August 2023 the CEO of Culdesac was living in a Culdesac Tempe apartment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttDeYzINSV8

[standardUser]

> There's a reason that the first thing anyone, anywhere, does when they get some money is buy an SUV or (in Europe and Japan) a station wagon and move out to an American-style suburb.

Maybe if you have kids, otherwise that's just self-imposed exile. Not much fun to be had in a suburb if you're loaded and childless. Lots of driving though.

[blackeyeblitzar]

> Not much fun to be had in a suburb if you're loaded and childless.

Depends on what you want to do. Most childless couples I know moved away from their younger city lives. They don’t think of being “exiled” from restaurants or whatever. They’re closer to parks, hiking, friend. They’re able to do hobbies you can’t in the city like woodworking or whatever. And as for driving - it is much easier and painless away from cities. High density without matching roads makes driving painful. But low and medium density with lots of parking makes it great - driving then just becomes a means to live a high quality life.

[dml2135]

I don’t live car-free in a city because I dislike driving in the city, I live car-free in a city because I dislike driving, period.

[blackeyeblitzar]

> There's a reason that the first thing anyone, anywhere, does when they get some money is buy an SUV or (in Europe and Japan) a station wagon and move out to an American-style suburb.

Yep. HN and other echo chambers like Reddit are VERY bad at recognizing this reality. Almost no one wants to live in a super dense urban environment. When you are young, there is appeal to going to the newest bar or whatever, but that wears out very quickly, and then you spend the rest of your life wanting something away from people, away from small apartments in high rises. That means more space and single family homes. That means suburbia or rural areas.

[AlotOfReading]

1/3rd of the US population lives in urban cores, not "almost no one".

[lotsoweiners]

Urban cores is a pretty loose term. Lots of urban cores that aren’t NYC or similar have single family homes in their urban core.

[em-bee]

if that is true then how come that apartments in those urban centers are among the most expensive?

away from people

that's a problem caused by north american individualism. most of the rest of the world does not want to be away from people.

[em-bee]

i'd like to add that it is not just individualism per se but also lack of tolerance. in the US (and all western countries really) i want to be away from people because to many are bothered if i do anything different than them.

in china and other places that i have been to, people don't get bothered by such things, or at least they don't embarrass themselves or others by constantly complaining about it. more tolerance and friendliness would go a long way towards a friendly community that one wants to be part of and not run away from.

[standardUser]

> Almost no one wants to live in a super dense urban environment.

And yet that's where so many people choose to live, hence that aforementioned super density. If almost no one wanted to live there it wouldn't be dense at all. Not to mention people usually pay a premium cost for that density you think they hate.

[blackeyeblitzar]

Choosing to live, or need to live? I think it’s a bit of both. As the parent comment mentioned, you have to look at these things based on factors like age and income. I think the ones that are truly choosing to live in very dense environments are often younger and value some of the access they get in a city. I think there’s another population that doesn’t choose it but has to be there for work or to afford things or whatever (depending on the city). But most cities have a pattern where people on average move further away from city cores as they age, and there’s a reason for that.

[standardUser]

> But most cities have a pattern where people on average move further away from city cores as they age, and there’s a reason for that.

Yeah, it's called kids. The thing people keep having less of.