tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post1660268337366182587..comments2023-07-02T08:51:27.725-04:00Comments on Technology and the City: More End of Suburbia HypeUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-56766996446130806132009-07-14T17:49:31.127-04:002009-07-14T17:49:31.127-04:00Daniel, transit is highly subsidized as well thoug...Daniel, transit is highly subsidized as well though. Local governments here are pouring money into Metro to cover its operating expenses, and drivers are subsidizing the capital costs of the Dulles rail extension though toll collections. <br /><br />Also, I don't understand why you want to go the suburbs for a mortgage interest deduction. It's applied equally to people who buy condos in the city. Moreover, the high cost of real estate close-in allows for a bigger deduction per square foot than you'll ever get in an outer suburb.Blog Adminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16479105659197407008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-91851721516486055552009-07-13T14:34:42.835-04:002009-07-13T14:34:42.835-04:00I agree with you that people should have the abili...I agree with you that people should have the ability to choose where to live, but I think we have a ways to go before these choices are available to most households in the real world. <br /><br />For example, suppose I want to live in a relatively safe place with good public schools, and I want it to be a mixed-use walkable neighborhood. In some metro areas this option is scarcely available at all, and in other metro areas it is only available to the highest income echelon. Yet there is nothing inherently contradictory in this choice bundle. <br /><br />I believe that the market has been inhibited from meeting this demand through both a set of subsidies for drivable suburbs and a set of regulations against walkable urban places. Pointing to the suburbs and saying, "look, obviously people want to live here because they chose this" is a fallacy, because for many decades, they have had a constricted range of options under a set household budget.<br /><br />I may even be forced to live in the suburbs once we decide to purchase our own home (or I can continue to rent and forgo federal tax benefits).Daniel Nairnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14127732825472374125noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-12126390732488938192009-07-13T09:44:00.877-04:002009-07-13T09:44:00.877-04:00Dan, appreciate the feedback.
The status quo is n...Dan, appreciate the feedback.<br /><br />The status quo is not persisting, both cities and suburbs are growing, which is very different from 30 years ago when only suburbs were growing. This suggests that freedom of choice is expanding, yet many people who want to wish the suburbs away would rather complain about other people's choices than celebrate their own.Blog Adminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16479105659197407008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-46387772545926387052009-07-10T21:59:36.237-04:002009-07-10T21:59:36.237-04:00The unrealistic thing to believe, in my opinion, i...The unrealistic thing to believe, in my opinion, is that the suburbs as the dominant living arrangement are somehow a permanent and universal fixture of history. It only took about three decades for the world as we know it to emerge, and it is not unreasonable to think that if the economic foundations shift or environmental limits impose themselves, living arrangements could shift in the same amount of time - if not quicker.<br /><br />The average household size in the U.S. in 1950 was 3.33 persons with much less square footage than today, and you find it remarkable that today's households will ever "cram" into a 50's size house. 1950 was not too long ago. It may be hard for us to imagine living without the kind of wealth that we enjoy now, but it has not also been like this (nor is it everywhere in the world like this).<br /><br />End of Suburbia will never happen, of course, but we are witnessing a remarkable slowing of growth and disproportionate loss of property values relative to distance from cities. Those Virginia counties you cited are not growing nearly as quickly as they were 5 years ago, and they are losing value. National VMTs are down for two years straight, for the first time in about 50 years. Believing the status quo will persist simply because it is the status quo may actually be more utopian than the alternative.Danhttp://discoveringurbanism.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-67294971041671476952009-07-09T19:21:20.657-04:002009-07-09T19:21:20.657-04:00Nick, thanks for the comment. Ultimately, the nu...Nick, thanks for the comment. Ultimately, the number of urbanized pedestrian neighborhoods is growing as is the population of car-friendly outer suburbs. Yet the city first people would rather tell everyone who makes a different choice than they do their world is ending, rather than just enjoying the fact that everyone's options have expanded.Blog Adminhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16479105659197407008noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4957894027687826063.post-50372010580397726662009-07-01T18:14:41.882-04:002009-07-01T18:14:41.882-04:00Good job bringing some sanity to this discussion. ...Good job bringing some sanity to this discussion. If what we call suburbia ever does cease to exist, it will be with a whimper (not a bang).Nick Helmholdthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08892886839901526815noreply@blogger.com