Hacker News Reader

Comment by fennecs | Hacker News Reader

And vast miles of suburban sprawl coupled with endless roads is not boring?

It is. North American zoning certainly isn't ideal, IMHO. But a mix of superblocks, both dense and sparse mixed-zone housing, single family homes, and high rises would appeal to me. Just let people pick where they want to live.

I also find these superblocks a bit oppressive, TBH. If they were one option among many I might find them appealing, but as the _only_ option they seem a bit...dystopian. Very much like the endless suburbs you find in American cities. Do we really need an absolute all-encompassing housing ideology?

People over cars is opressive? I don’t understand this mentality

I don't like American-style suburbs, I'm not defending cars over people. I think the lack of public transportation in the US is a tragedy.

But "You must live in one of 100 identical walk-up 4-storey courtyard-facing brown brick blocks, with a limited selection of approved local community businesses, and commute or drive for anything else" seems oppressive, yeah. Some people want to live in shiny glass high rises, or pay a premium to have a private yard, or live on a busy street full of bars and clubs. We don't need to define the One True Housing for Everyone and then implement it city-wide, we could just put a few of these superblocks within cities. But Barcelona looks just as oppressive to me as endless American suburbs, though admittedly it may be more pleasant to live there.

Have you ever been to Barcelona or are you making assumptions from looking at an overhead view of the street grid? It’s one of the most pleasant and human scale cities to walk around in that exists.

There are people in those cars. I lived in the center of city for 9 years without a car and being walkable is great but you tend to end up limiting your life to a small area. Cars can enrich lives, open up opportunity and for families with small kids, make getting around more convenient. No need to be anti car to the point where cars are not an option anymore, optionality is key.

Why does it have to be all or nothing? Why do you think putting up superblocks necessitates tearing down every single other block? Why do you think this gets rid of suburbs and low density housing outside of the city's core?

> North American zoning certainly isn't ideal, IMHO. But a mix of superblocks, both dense and sparse mixed-zone housing, single family homes, and high rises would appeal to me.

Take a look at Chicago from your mapping tool of choice. Slowly zoom out until the street names fall away and the minor roads start to disappear. The dominant feature is their 4x4 grid of major roads and it extends even to the close-in suburbs - especially in the north and south.

Perhaps you can call this the North American version of the superblock. Density is concentrated along these major roads (and the central business district, of course). The inner roads have that mix of single family homes, townhouses, high-rises, etc. depending on the neighborhood you are in.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com