LogFAQs > #972708285

adjl posted...

Having sidewalks doesn't make an area walkable. Having stuff within a comfortable walking distance does, which is much more difficult when stores are routinely set a kilometre back from the road to accommodate the parking lot, or when entire blocks that could have been destinations are bulldozed to make space for parking. It also relies on walking being a safe option, which it really isn't when the street has been designed to prioritize moving as many cars as possible as quickly as possible, since that results in narrower sidewalks with fewer obstacles between the sidewalk and the road (which minimize the harm of cars mounting the curb for whatever reason), frequent driveways, more complex intersections where drivers have more to pay attention to than pedestrians (right turns on red lights are a particular issue, since drivers are typically looking to their left while making those turns and have a harder time noticing pedestrians coming from the right), longer crossings... The issues are countless.

Oh. In that case, still walkable. The parking lots change. Some are in front, but some are to the side, as well And some are across the street like in the downtown area Although, those are for the bigger lots. Like some of the fast food places have small low that are like 50 feet maybe Basically, not far to walk past And in the downtown area, they have parking areas in front of stores, but the lots are usually across the street, and work for most parts around a small area

That said, if walking areas arent safe because they are close to the road, I havent seen many safe walking areas in my life (compared to the amount of non-safe Ive seen, at least)

adjl posted...

That's kind of the point. Designing the city around cars means all that parking space is necessary, because everybody has to drive and everybody that drives needs somewhere to store their car when they get where they're going. That land wasn't useless, it was unused, which I'd be willing to bet was a consequence of zoning laws, minimum parking requirements, and other car-centric policies making it non-viable to develop it into something more valuable than parking. If it's valuable as parking, then it's close enough to other things to have been valuable as a commercial destination or housing (or both, since mixed-use, medium-density housing is fantastic for cities despite the fact that many cities don't even allow such properties to be built), which it could have been if not for the need to allocate so much land to parking.

It didnt have to do with zoning laws It was on base, where they basically just follow their own laws Because of where it was, there was nothing that would make sense to be there So, they decided to use it for more parking. They were going to do stuff to make it pretty at first. Then decided that it worked fine the way it was And nothing else would have been as valuable. If something was, they would have done it But it was basically just land not being use. And had we not used it, it would still be unused as nothing would make sense to be there And since its on base, it wouldnt be commercial housing. Housing is all in one area. Commercial is spread out more, but they wouldnt want everyone coming there for something random. Not only that, but the land was a small spot. So, even if they put a building there, itd be a small one So, it was only really valuable as parking

adjl posted...

Bases are a bit of a different situation in that they tend to be designed to be self-sufficient and allow people to do what they need to do without travelling far. University campuses are often designed around similar principles, assuming that those living in dorms don't have cars and making everything pleasantly walkable as a result. It'll depend a bit on the base, but I expect you actually can enjoy some of the benefits of good city design already and that there are errands you prefer to run on the base instead of on your way home because the base is just better designed.

I wouldnt say ours is designed better. And part of the problem is half of everything is 24 hours, while the other half isnt When everything should be 24 hours if anything on base is Though, they can be self-sufficient for the most part But people still use cars to get around. And would rather use them in most cases Like the only time I see people walking is when they have to, or live right across the street from whatever Like there are only a couple dorms that people walk from to the dining facility or gym Further than that, and they just drive Which can make sense for both, tbh Not to mention, some thing are just spread out The reason people do stuff on base is because they can sometimes do it while on the clock. Or because its technically on the way home That said, when you work in the back corner of the base, most things are on the way home, regardless or where on base it is