How come no one ever looks at population density?
US cities have very low density compared to other cities in other countries.
New York is the exception, and their transit isn't that bad. But it's still lower than other major cities.
US cities have very low density compared to other cities in other countries.
New York is the exception, and their transit isn't that bad. But it's still lower than other major cities.
If you are building a new city, you do not start with high density. Individual developers start with the cheapest build out because no one will pay a premium for a multi-level structure until cheap single-level builds are exhausted. Then as centuries pass, because there is no more undeveloped land, the city is forced to redevelop existing plots and increase density.
Many Asian and Western cities are hundreds or thousands of years old.
America's transit woes is because we live in a new country with new cities in previously mostly uninhabited land.
Due to smallpox spread from Mexico, 90 percent of the native population was gone in most areas at least a half-century before Jamestown was settled. A lot of what white people 'stole' was genuinely uninhabited.
Paris metro is 1,800/sq mi
London metro is 7,430/sq mi
Philly is 11,749/sq mi
Paris is 52,000/sq mi
The US East coast between DC and Boston has 3x the population density of France (and has a larger total population). Yet France has the TGV, with many long stretches of 300 km/h traffic, and all the Northeast US has is Acela.
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