[ohwp]

There are more architects who tried this. Christopher Alexander dedicated a lot of time to solve building countries to doorsteps.

What amazed me after reading some of his books are the physical effects of today's cities on humans (and animals).

Some examples:

Living higher than 4 stores: there is evidence that this will disconnect you from the life happening on ground level.

Streets made for cars: cars are more important than humans.

[chrissyb]

Walter Burley Griffin did this - it's Australia's capital city Canberra.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Burley_Griffin

These turn of the century architects lived at the birth of the affordable motor vehicle. To them the motor car was no doubt a symbol of the future and of marvelous connection with the world around them not unlike how I feel about the way I have seen the internet grow in my lifetime.

Canberra today - whilst still a beautiful city is too big for itself even with only a 0.5mil populous. The city is now too large in area and choked with congestion relying on buses as the only form of public transport. There is no longer anyway the city could feasibly afford to install any supplementary public transport like light rail.

The idea of a a dispersed city is idealistic, but a dense city is functional.

[vanderZwan]

To clarify: these are examples of what NOT to do, and Alexander stated them as such.

[hueving]

I disagree. I can't ride a human to work. :-)

[vanderZwan]

That's the point: bad city planning forces you to use a car.

Compare that to a city like Groningen:

https://vimeo.com/76207227

[silverbax88]

Groningen, a city of less than 200,000, is not scalable for the biggest cities in the world, which is the problem. Biking across New York or L.A. is not even remotely feasible. I'm not saying better cities are not possible, but just putting everyone on bikes is not even close to a solution. You'd be better off going back to horses.

[peatmoss]

While I wouldn't necessarily want to cross NYC in its entirety by bike on a frequent basis, remember that most trips are three miles or less--a perfectly cromulent distance for a bike. Most people don't need to cross an entire city all the time. Also, mass transit works rather well when paired with walking and biking.

[vanderZwan]

I agree that the solutions for Groningen do not scale on their own, but as others suggested a good public transportation system would go a long way.

I really don't see how horses would be better than bikes though.

[walshemj]

Well 1 horses are dangerous (horse riding is a high risk sport) 2 the removal of the horse poop becomes a major issue.

I cant see a problem in riding across New York - I have done cross central London a few times.

[silverbax88]

And you are of course, elderly or handicapped, correct? Or you need to travel with two small children? And when you say you biked 'across New York', you mean from Long Island or Yonkers to Manhattan or some similar commuter trek, correct?

[rayiner]

No, but getting across NYC on the subway is probably the fastest way to do it.

[denom]

Just as an arbitrary data point, I've biked from Hollywood to Santa Monica. It's doable, and with a fraction of the effort spent on building and maintaining infrastructure for cars the bike-ride might even be pleasant. Re: New york, I have not biked there, but the new bike rental program seems to indicate that biking there is becoming more friendly.

[yincrash]

Singapore does it just fine. I bike in NYC often and I think it could support mass bike ridership in combination with the subway.

[silverbax88]

Singapore has a population density of 13,600 people per square mile, where the US has 75. They do NOT "do it fine". It is a mass of teeming people crawling all over each other.

[timclark]

Move nearer to where you work then!

[chc]

This is not a practical solution for many people. If I lived nearer to where I work, I'd be living on the streets.

[mercer]

Yes, but isn't that the whole point? If a city is designed for cars, you're gonna need a car. Which has all kinds of downsides.

I have to admit I often thumbed my nose at 'those Americans and theird cars', but only until I spent some time in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Once there, I realized that it's pretty much impossible to do anything without a care! It shocked me.

[zanny]

I like the Dart, though. I've window shopped employment in the DFW area. Problem is all the major companies are in suburbs like Plano, where there is no metro access.

At least they build the roads to accommodate down there. 4 lanes each side for regular avenues, and the travel density justifies them. Up in the northeast some major interstates and roads like i78 and route 22 are two lanes with the traffic of a 3 lane each side highway.

Whenever I move next, though, I'm moving where I can take public transport commutes to any office I work at (if any at all, I'd prefer remote, maybe one in office day a week). The monetary investment and insane risks with cars is just way too much to justify.

[Shivetya]

well there is weather, cities rarely are designed to protect you from adverse weather. Usually it what ends a lot of people's new found idea of, lets bike to work. One day its too hot, its too cold, its wet, its windy, oh I need to take x, and on and on and on, now we have a nice garage ornament.

Biking to work is fine, I just wish people quit implying its an alternative to cars or mass transportation when its very weather dependent. Got a change of clothes at work? Not where I work you don't, top it off where I am going to put the bike though I did have a nice folding BMW one awhile back.

[vanderZwan]

The reason it isn't a practical solution is partially because of city planning, which is the problem Alexander was addressing.

[ajuc]

Use public transport?

[chc]

Because public transportation is horrible in much of the US, that's a 4.5-hour commute.

[cphuntington97]

I must recommend Jan Gehl's masterpiece, Life Between Buildings http://amzn.to/1jwFtcP

[malyk]

Saw a talk he gave at Berkeley a few months ago. He's a fascinating character and has done a tremendous amount of research about how cities function.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Gehl