[p2p-research] Walkability: check it before choosing your next home!

[M. Fioretti]

(answer to Michel's post in this same thread: the way you describe the
traffic, Hanoi and Bangkok feel just like Naples :-) )

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 12:13:48 PM -0400, Paul D. Fernhout wrote:

> I read somewhere that much of the US suburban land use was shaped by 
> crazy post-WWII mortgage issues; it was thought an assessor could not 
> properly value a house unless it was next to identical houses

any reference for this? Sounds just as rationale as genetically
modifying people to look the same so one doesn't get too stressed when
evaluating a potential mate...

> if you economic situation changes or life situation (you get a 
> raise, you lose your job, you get married, or have kids, or lose your 
> spouse, your mother-in-law wants to live with you, and so on, then you 
> can't just get a different place to live in the same diverse community

This problem also exists in a smaller way in condominiums
neighborhood.  Italian apartment buildings built in the last 20 years
assume that you either have only one child or have too much money to
count it. There are either very small apartments or very, very big and
luxury ones. I've seen buildings where a family >= 5 people should
have bought 2 adjacent apartment and tear down (compiling a mountain
of paperwork and paying several fees) the wall between them to have a
decent place to live.

> Still, even for people in Europe, access to nice places to live may
> be unaffordable for many these days, especially the young?

Absolutely yes. In Italy this problem is often solved by staying in
your parent's place till you're 35 yrs old.

> I can still wonder if maybe still "seasteading" etc. may have some
> appeal, even in countries with falling populations?

Speaking only about Italy: seasteading is expensive and, as many "big
next thing" projects, doing it here frankly seems just a mental
exercise or toy for rich people, not a scalable solution. Why should
people (or governments) who have no money for a normal house have
money for a seasteading one?

Above all: WHY on Earth waste time and money on seasteading when
making EXISTING cities work (remember I said there are many empty
apartments here, and will increase with falling population) would cost
much less, have a much lower eco-footprint and probably be available?
The first rule of sustainability is "reuse", isn't it?

So I won't speak for other countries, but here in Italy I'd be
probably against any project of that kind for the same reason I don't
like the Messina bridge: very cool, impressive and expensive solution
looking for a problem.

> For many young people, perhaps Europe is not an affordable place to
> stay or raise a family in some ways? Sometimes the only way to get
> out from a financial pyramid scheme like endlessly rising real
> estate prices is to just build something new elsewhere?

As far as I know, almost all the young people who leave Italy for the
reasons you mention want to remain in what you call the pyramid
scheme, just with more money or less artificial obstacles in the
profession they like :-)

But you're absolutely right that "It's a socio-political issue more 
than a physical issue in that sense"

Marco
-- 
Your own civil rights and the quality of your life heavily depend on how
software is used *around* you:            http://digifreedom.net/node/84