One of my main points was accessibility and showed pictures of elderly folks riding bikes in the Netherlands. All my friends knew I ride an E-bike almost everytime we meet up, so I thought this was a nice opportunity to explain part of the why I like to bike around.
And just to clarify, I don't hate residential neighborhoods, but the way they've been built and are largely continuing to be built in a lot of the US (completely segregated from anything useful and from multi family housing) is bad for everyone because traffic, noise, safety, affordability, beauty, etc.
by Cats_Parkour_CompEng
1 Comment
Good effort. Mixed neighborhoods like you get in Europe or some Latin American cities are the way to go, but probably also unrealistic without fundamental changes in the North American mindset (including Canada here, not Mexico).
I see this almost as encroached in the “American Dream” as private healthcare or the second amendment. I say this, because a very key part of the American Dream is land ownership (which, by the way, is different from owning a home).
Owning a piece of land is a deep aspiration fostered in the American society through family, education, and media. There is a very clearly established cycle of life that ends with getting married and moving to the suburbs to start a family.
So, 1) land ownership, 2) social programming, and 3) the irrational fear of urban living.
Number three is complex, because, TBH, sometimes is not irrational. As a general rule, living downtown in most American cities is for the wealthy or for the poor. Downtown is, as a general rule, less safe than the suburbs, there is more crime, and there is more fear to take a walk at night, let your kids go out and play, etc.
There are a myriads of secondary issues that are directly related to those three, including:
1) Feeling of underachievement if living in a condo versus a home, and even greater feeling of underachievement if renting as an adult with a family.
2) Discriminatory behavior in an effort to keep the community safe, clean, etc. This one is super toxic and will end up promoting racist, xenophobe, and violent actions.
3) And, to the point of the sub we are in: individualistic behavior and the false sense of status that having a car gives you. You are alone, isolated of the world, listening to music, drinking coffee, with the A/C at max while stuck in miles and miles of traffic, but it is all worth it because you are on a [Fill in the blank] model [Fill in the blank].
This is a hugely difficult mindset to change. As difficult, if not more, than achieving universal healthcare.
Most people lives in greater urban areas. Those people are programmed to work in the city, live in the suburbs, have single family home, shop at Costco, etc.
I fight with this myself. I own a condo and struggle with the feeling of underachievement sometimes when my coworkers talk about their “properties” (another sign of the problem is referring to your home as “your property”). I bike to the office and sometimes feel inferior for not driving. When I do drive, I experience an undeniable self-esteem bump for being in my big car driving like an adult to my job downtown.
This is a long post because I really admire what you are doing. I have thought about this problem for years now, and I honestly haven’t been able to come up with any ideas to solve it.
At least you are doing something, so, well done.