Quote:
Originally Posted by adam-machiavelli
People move to the suburbs when urban housing becomes unaffordable. Housing can be made more affordable in urban areas by using off-the-shelf designs, cheaper interior finishes, and building on smaller lots. Don't forget a comprehensive transit network to reduce commuting costs.
|
Please re-read what you wrote. How does this make urban living more attractive? People also go to the suburbs so that they can afford those little extras in their home. Cheaping down the designs is not going to make urban living more attractive. In fact, cheaply built housing will be the slums of the next generation.
Let's think about this and examples in other countries. 'Project' developments in the United States became crime ridden slums that made everybody in the area flee to the suburbs. Then the commie blocks of the former Soviet Union represented the failure of that society to offer decent housing to the masses. Row upon row of substandard high rises without any design merit.
I saw a tremendous amount of this in Soeul, South Korea. Row upon row of almost identical highrises that were only distinguished with numbers on the sides of the buildings. And what did people do to deal with their drab lives? Acohol of course. That was the solution in the Soviet Union as well. Cheap vodka.
If you want to live in the city, it has to very attractive to make up for a price differential and that is something that cannot be avoided.
Block busting is also not going to be the answer either. Quick destruction of neighbourhoods by allowing quick infilling risks the same results of American cities where people fled the inner city.