BF2S Forums Land use here in America

galt sounds a lot like a hipster

Uzique wrote:

so jay are you just going to rent an apartment all your life or something? what are you personally proposing to do, here?

The whole point of this thread was to point out what I feel is stupid about the way people here in America choose to live. I despise suburbs.

People are obsessed with privacy but if you look at the pictures above, there's no difference between the people who live in the single story tract homes and the people that live in apartment buildings surrounding courtyards. That extra ten feet of space between homes doesn't change the fact that your neighbors know when you fuck and when you eat, and what you watch on tv.

I simply feel that if you're going to live in an urban or semi-urban environment, condense the houses closer together so that you can have parks and ball fields that are actually usable space rather than your dinky little 30'x20' back yard in which you can't even throw a ball around properly.

Edit - And no, I won't be renting my whole life, though I would if I wasn't getting married to a house obsessed woman. My rent is $1200 a month right now. My landlords mortgage is $3600. I rent out the top of his house and he has pretty much the same amount of space that I do with the addition of a half-finished basement. I'd say I'm getting the better deal. So yes, I'd rather rent, but because that's not an option, I'm going to maximize the property that I do end up buying.

Last edited by Jay (2011-05-17 07:44:09)

this just sounds a whole lot like a hipster raging against the machine.

i can bet by the time you're 40 you'll have your patch of the american dream, too, galty.

Uzique wrote:

this just sounds a whole lot like a hipster raging against the machine.

i can bet by the time you're 40 you'll have your patch of the american dream, too, galty.

got mine when i was 30, lol

13/f/taiwan wrote:

@Jaekus, we have a similar problem here in the US. The local government gives the people less then market value for their property and kicks them out so some real estate developer can build condominiums. It is a really fucked up situation.

The city just finished eminent domaining Willets Point and the area around Citi Field because apparently the sight of ugly businesses was harming the value of the baseball stadium. They dream of replacing the area around the stadium with condos and I guess that's more important than the scrap metal guys that have been there for a hundred years.

Jay wrote:

FEOS wrote:

Jaekus and Dilbert are arguing architectural aesthetics. They like European style more than American. Look beyond the building style. It's the same thing: people living crowded together on twisty streets. The big difference is that in the US version, you're not in a flat.

Spark: That last shot is from either Las Vegas (or North Vegas) or the Phoenix area. Of course there aren't any trees.

And pay attention folks. All I did was copy/pasta from two previous posts.

No, the big difference is the utter waste of space that one story tract housing is. Sure, in that picture everyone has his own little plot, and that may help his self esteem, but it's not like he can actually do anything with it. If he and three of his neighbors lived in a four story house instead they could surround themselves with green space. Instead, they'd rather live on their 1/8 acre and pretend that they actually own it and that it somehow means they've arrived in the world. They don't. And they haven't.

I know this thread is about America's use of space. But not all suburbs are like that. I have almost everything that an urban environment can offer (and some things it can't) within walking distance, and everything else is no more then a 10-15 min drive away. All without the noise, pollution, crime and crowds of people. Sure by a purely mathematical efficiency standpoint they are pretty wasteful, but its a far more relaxed lifestyle.

you dont have doens of people poopinbg on top of you in the suburbs

LA is the second largest populated city in the country.  up until the last few years it would be rare to find an apartment building taller than two stories.  even now with the recent attempt at gentrifying downtown la with all the hipsters,  high rise apartments are still hard to find.

I dont see how living in jays ideal world of apartments is at all appealing.  you deal with other peoples filth and you cant do anything about it.  I could listen to music loud as fuck in my house without worrying about bothering somebody's funeral wake.

if you live in a nice condo complex it ain't quite that bad, although it still doesn't quite match living in a detached SFH

yeah how does that happen?

We love our cars and highways.

eleven bravo wrote:

nothing is worse than manhattan traffic.  simply because of so many people not knowing how to drive. 

traffic in LA usually stays on the freeways.

No, the traffic is bad because there are 8.5 million people crammed into the five boroughs and Manhattan is an island with limited access to and from. The people creating the traffic are out of towners who don't understand the concept of staying the fuck out of the grid.