Quote:
Originally Posted by Wheeldog
You make excellent points. When I use the term "simple lifestyle" it is not meant to infer inferior. Indeed, simplicity is, in my estimation, far better and more rewarding way of life than the complex and precarious fossil fuel dominated society we now have. On a personal level, I am working toward further simplifying an already relatively modest standard of living.
It is obvious that car centered urban and suburban development is on its last legs. The fact that American motorists drove fewer miles and used less gasoline over the past year - for the fist time in decades - is reflective of a tipping point in our commitment to the private auto. There is a growing trend of people trying to trade in their gas guzzling SUVs for smaller and more fuel efficient cars. Mass transit systems are seeing passenger growth. More and more people are either selling or leasing their homes in scattered suburbs and moving closer to their places of work, often in more concentrated urban areas. To me those are promising developments.
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I agree, I just think its important to express that those are two decisions, I understand both, but one does not need the other necessarily, ie someone who does not want a simple life still can choose to live a car less life. Thats no contradiction, it only becomes one in areas where bad planning has forced people in a dictate of the car.
Because I mentioned planning as a factor, let me give you an example: The Urban-Loritz-Platz in Vienna. Its probably the most traffiked crossing in the western half of Vienna. The extremely busy Gürtel (belt) road (4 lanes in each direction) is crossed by another street that is a major artery for cars coming from the west of Vienna and the west-Autobahn. Back in the 60's they had a great plan. They were pretty serious about turing the belt road into a´n elevated inner city highway and sacrifice the city railway line for that goal. That way one could have dramatically increased the capacity. One thought it could resolve the congestion problems that were increasingly severe. It was the best time of the "car age".
In the meantime the formerly bourgoise boulevard that the Gürtel once has been, detoriated and became a red light district with shaby houses where only people with some imagination could get an idea of the former glory.
What happened? People were not happy with those highway plans. To be more precise they hated those plans and demonstrations followed and made the city government rethinking and finally burry the Gürtel Highway plans.
Maybe thats the shisma to what took place in other cities, especially in America. The city railway did not disappear, instead it was transformed into a full subway line, later on a bicycle path made it possilbe for bicyclers to use the Gürtel as part of their route again. In the 90's fnally the City made it a priority to revive the Gürtel as urban area again after it was not much more than a transit lane and red light district anymore. The railway arcades where transformed from dark storages into night clubs, bars and restaurants as well as some shops (eg a mountainbike shop). And to come back to the Urban Loritz square, a few years ago they constructed the new main library on maybe the noisiest venues in the entire city, next to the buissest crossing in the middle of the bussiest street of Vienna. Sounds weird? Its a full success. The building has superb noise isolution, which makes the building inside noise free and by putting it at a crossroad of public transport (1 subway line 4 tram lines) its very easily reachable throughout the city. Before this library was here everyone fled that square as fast as he could, now people even take the PT with that square as very goal.
Today the Gürtel is a reassurgent urban space a new mecca of nightlife (not the red light one), a mecca for book lovers. Many buildings got renovated and its not quite as shaby as it once was, even though its not yet shining in its glory of lost days yet. The most interesting thing is however that the traffic decreased in the last 10 years 10-15% at the Gürtel.
With a highway, this development would have been impossible, the Gürtel would be as congested as before, just with a few times more cars stuck there, with a completely rund down neighborhood beyond any repair next to it.
Dont get fooled by that picture, during peek hours, those 8 lanes are filled with a sea of cars.
A picture of the new library with its cool stairs next to the square. On sunny days its a great place to hang around lying in the sun and feeling like staying above all that busy traffic with a great view of the city. On the top of it you also have a coffeehouse with the same view.