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Why I have no respect for urban planners

What’s precisely wrong other then using a lot of land for driveways and gardens.

mcmansion
architecture
design
ugly
houses
bad
architecture
1990s
mcmansion
hell
texas

But anyway all the woods by where I grew up massive beautiful trees many probably over 100 years they chopped absolutely everything for not real mc mansions but wanna-be 3 and 4 bedroom mcmansions. Cheap stupid flakeboard and pavement everywhere, sidewalks, streetlights, cul de stupids. Strip away every bit of topsoil and lay sod on top of clay so the "my lawn" my whole self worth is "my lawn" suburbanite clowns and their sprinkler systems 50lb bags of 'weed n feed' poisons, gallons and gallons of roundup and bug killer sprays on the 10% unpaved left into the water table down the storm drains.
 
Last edited:
mcmansion
architecture
design
ugly
houses
bad
architecture
1990s
mcmansion
hell
texas

But anyway all the woods by where I grew up massive beautiful trees many probably over 100 years they chopped absolutely everything for not real mc mansions but wanna-be 3 and 4 bedroom mcmansions. Cheap stupid flakeboard and pavement everywhere, sidewalks, streetlights, cul de stupids. Strip away every bit of topsoil and lay sod on top of clay so the "my lawn" my whole self worth is "my lawn" suburbanite clowns and their sprinkler systems 50lb bags of 'weed n feed' poisons, gallons and gallons of roundup and bug killer sprays on the 10% unpaved left into the water table down the storm drains.
But people have to live somewhere. The alternative are high rise apartments, Better land use but issues with livability. For better or for worse in many countries people want a garden , a driveway , etc.
 
Turning this

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Into this stupid type of stupid shit ?

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But people have to live somewhere. The alternative are high rise apartments, Better land use but issues with livability. For better or for worse in many countries people want a garden , a driveway , etc.

What happened was the original suburbia with similar housing density, small houses on wooded lots with narrow roads and no streetlights or sidewalks became the exclusive areas and those mini mc mansion cud e sac atrocities where they trashed every last bit of nature became the crap areas.
 
Turning this

View attachment 112492

Into this stupid type of stupid shit ?

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What happened was the original suburbia with similar housing density, small houses on wooded lots with narrow roads and no streetlights or sidewalks became the exclusive areas and those mini mc mansion cud e sac atrocities where they trashed every last bit of nature became the crap areas.

 
Turning this

View attachment 112492

Into this stupid type of stupid shit ?

View attachment 112490


What happened was the original suburbia with similar housing density, small houses on wooded lots with narrow roads and no streetlights or sidewalks became the exclusive areas and those mini mc mansion cud e sac atrocities where they trashed every last bit of nature became the crap areas.
I don’t disagree , planners need to limit house sizes , limit gardens and encourage centre of city living. Sadly it’s not popular in money buys all societies.
 
I don’t disagree , planners need to limit house sizes , limit gardens and encourage centre of city living. Sadly it’s not popular in money buys all societies.

No I refuse to live in some ugly, busy, cramped center-of-city squallor. I currently live in a suburban area (ish, 2 seconds down the road is nothing but cornfield lol) but not some "mcmansion." I'd love to have a handful of acres though.

Do not cram me in some stinkin' city. I lived there once. I was sick of it in short order, and it wasn't even the middle of it.
 
No I refuse to live in some ugly, busy, cramped center-of-city squallor. I currently live in a suburban area (ish, 2 seconds down the road is nothing but cornfield lol) but not some "mcmansion." I'd love to have a handful of acres though.

Do not cram me in some stinkin' city. I lived there once. I was sick of it in short order, and it wasn't even the middle of it.
Yes but suburban sprawl is consuming natural land and destroying habitats. It’s a terrible area to bring public services to and forces people into a car culture

City living with the proper approach can be very enjoyable. Personally ( as I live in a rural area ) I’d live in a rural area or right in the centre of cities. Suburbia is the worst of both worlds.

Both my kids live in the centre of major European capitals. They have lovely apartments , walking distance to work , fantastic public transport especially rail based. Close by they have shops , hardware stores , parks , etc neither own or want to own cars.

Done right urban living can be very comfortable and enjoyable. The US is not a good model of it however as public transport is so poor in many places.

Where I’m am building a one off house in the country side is nearly impossible unless you were born in the area. Ribbon developments are frowned upon. The onus has switched to more dense developments in towns. This is new given we are the least densely populated country in Europe. But the planners view is one off housing is unsustainable and large scale housing estates in semi rural areas are the worst of both worlds ( my sister in law is a senior housing director with a very big local authority )
 
I get there are pros and cons to both urban and rural, and everyone has their preferences. But generally speaking I'll take rural first, suburban next. You can not convince me to live inside a city by choice. The noise, the crowds, expensive for the space you have, renting is the worst as you never build any equity that way and you're at the mercy of the landlord to get things fixed if something breaks (it took over a year to get ours to fix our stupid AC, and I fixed other things myself because it was such a hassle), less privacy, yadda yadda...

At least in the suburb I own my bit of land, that I can grow a small garden on, have a garage for my car (...when I get it cleaned out lol), and actually own the house that while yeah that means I directly foot the repair bills, it is still my property and I can change what I want if I want. Oh, and I'm paying the same per month in mortgage, taxes, and insurance combined as I did for the apartment I rented that was half the space, no garage, and no land at all. The only good thing about that apartment was the restaurants were only 5-10 min away, but we don't go out to eat that much. I don't miss it one bit.

One thing that keeps me from going too rural is I need good broadband internet and that is hard to come by out in the sticks.
 
Moved from the suburbs to a rural area. The quality of life is much better and it's more affordable. As a bonus local building codes are more reasonable. It seems many suburbs enact local building codes to make some DIY projects next to impossible unless you hire a contractor. Oh and then there is the cost of permits which are generally much higher in the suburbs and cities.

The air and water quality in population dense areas is horrible. The amount of toxic particulate matter in the air in population dense areas is 100 times higher than rural areas.

Your risk of being a crime victim is also greatly increased. As they continue to green new deal us in to out of control inflation expect city living to become unbearable unless you have a personal security team.
 
Turning this



Into this stupid type of stupid shit ?

Like asked above, where are people supposed to live? I live rural now by choice, but millions of people actually like to live in the city or in developments like that. I used to live in one like in the original post and liked it too. I personally see no problem with either.
 
I get there are pros and cons to both urban and rural, and everyone has their preferences. But generally speaking I'll take rural first, suburban next. You can not convince me to live inside a city by choice. The noise, the crowds, expensive for the space you have, renting is the worst as you never build any equity that way and you're at the mercy of the landlord to get things fixed if something breaks (it took over a year to get ours to fix our stupid AC, and I fixed other things myself because it was such a hassle), less privacy, yadda yadda...

At least in the suburb I own my bit of land, that I can grow a small garden on, have a garage for my car (...when I get it cleaned out lol), and actually own the house that while yeah that means I directly foot the repair bills, it is still my property and I can change what I want if I want. Oh, and I'm paying the same per month in mortgage, taxes, and insurance combined as I did for the apartment I rented that was half the space, no garage, and no land at all. The only good thing about that apartment was the restaurants were only 5-10 min away, but we don't go out to eat that much. I don't miss it one bit.

One thing that keeps me from going too rural is I need good broadband internet and that is hard to come by out in the sticks.
Good thing the gov has funded rural fibre broadband. I get 1G/s fibre to the house in a very rural area
 
As I have said , I have two adult kids living on the centre of two big European cities. Major areas are pedestrianised , public transport especially trams are really excellent subsidised and cheap. Each community has an abundance of parks , local shops and an array of local services. Tenancy laws give huge rights to tenants.

Walk to work , restaurants and entertainment venues profuse and nearby. ( no DUI ) no need or desire for cars.

Personal safety is excellent both have no issues walking alone home at night etc.

Done right it can be very appealing. Sadly in the Anglosphere we have screwed up our cities. This then promotes suburban sprawl and one off rural housing that destroys habitats , creates issues with public water and sewerage and the provision of meaningful public transport.
 
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