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Old Posted Jun 24, 2010, 5:04 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tpk-nyc View Post
I often disagree with Kotkin, however he is one of the few geographers who writes honestly about money and class. He's concerned about working class people being about to live comfortable lives. He doesn't extol the suburbs per se, but places where you can buy a family home for $150,000 (many of which are sunbelt suburbs).

I'm an elitist. I love cities. I live in Manhattan and can't imagine living anywhere else. Then again, most people can't afford a $350,000 studio (and that's a cheap studio).

The challenge to urban planners is not simply transportation design or being carbon neutral, but also cost. Until we can offer working class families an affordable alternative, can we criticize them for wanting to live in Las Vegas and Phoenix?

Also, I don't think the subsidized housing is the answer. It's too complicated to administer and creates similarly entrenched vested interests: people who were there first, or people who are good at filling out paperwork and getting their names on waiting lists, etc.

I would respect him more if he wrote about how to bring costs down in New York and San Francisco, then again, we already know how to that. We have to take on the affluent vested interests that want to keep the working classes out.
Thank you for speaking honestly about the important insights Kotkin has to offer. You've already suggested yourself less of an elitist just by acknowledging that some of what Kotkin says has merit, love him or hate him. I might add that in many places, it's not just the working classes who seek comfortable lives in the affordable exurbs--in the costliest cities, the middle class is almost as severely priced out.

Both the city and the suburbs clearly offer milieus that can foster a certain degree of elitist attitudes. Can the urban snob from Old Town or the Gold Coast in Chicago really claim any moral high ground over the country club elitist in Winnetka or Kenilworth? Much of it really boils down to personal taste.
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