Love these questions. I’m a big fan of density but this type of centralization may be on its way to obsolete as more of our work and life becomes digital. The upside is there’s more opportunity for people without them having to physically go to then nodes of power, but I think there’s a real potential downside of poorer spontaneous social life.
That said: I don’t have any proof of this, but I get a feeling that a lot of the crusade to “get back to the office” is pushed by developers who don’t want to be stuck with empty properties—a lot of times I hear people appealing to our “duty” to make downtown vibrant, an appeal I never hear about peripheral and historically neglected neighborhoods in my city.
I do like the idea of getting people to live downtown, especially if it can make housing somewhat affordable again, and a lot of downtowns are great spaces for people to leisure together. But I don’t see developers or politicians pushing to change the codes to facilitate that either. (I’m guessing it’s less lucrative? Or requires more effort?)
The city has dumped so much money into downtown while neglecting the rest of the county for decades. It's past the point of construction overtaking infrastructure that's it's become obvious increased traffic isn't taken into consideration when handing out building permits. Tax income is all the metro government looks at anymore and they take that money to dump into a useless downtown no one can park in or wants to be in after dark.
Love these questions. I’m a big fan of density but this type of centralization may be on its way to obsolete as more of our work and life becomes digital. The upside is there’s more opportunity for people without them having to physically go to then nodes of power, but I think there’s a real potential downside of poorer spontaneous social life.
That said: I don’t have any proof of this, but I get a feeling that a lot of the crusade to “get back to the office” is pushed by developers who don’t want to be stuck with empty properties—a lot of times I hear people appealing to our “duty” to make downtown vibrant, an appeal I never hear about peripheral and historically neglected neighborhoods in my city.
I do like the idea of getting people to live downtown, especially if it can make housing somewhat affordable again, and a lot of downtowns are great spaces for people to leisure together. But I don’t see developers or politicians pushing to change the codes to facilitate that either. (I’m guessing it’s less lucrative? Or requires more effort?)
The city has dumped so much money into downtown while neglecting the rest of the county for decades. It's past the point of construction overtaking infrastructure that's it's become obvious increased traffic isn't taken into consideration when handing out building permits. Tax income is all the metro government looks at anymore and they take that money to dump into a useless downtown no one can park in or wants to be in after dark.