Because we have mainstreets, buildings, blocks, community centers, parks, American-style squares, and so on. The sense of community that Americans are hungry for is ultimately the post war sort that has been dying out in recent decades; the ideal. We are a country in transition but the transition will probably not be shortened through planning, that is a bit too close to the dying post war ideal. Growing pains, we are still young.
The city I live in practically didn't exist by most measures until the 1940s. Meanwhile many cities in Europe draw roots back a few thousand years BCE. The lot my house is on was barely even used as farmland in 1960, and got turned into a residential area finally in the 80s.
But sure I'll trust you in telling me this is a much older civilization than Greece. Makes sense.
Revisionist history you're pushing here. They didn't develop cities like anything you'd think of as a city today. Small roaming developments of maybe a few hundred people tops. So when we're discussing "urban design" it's pretty irrelevant. That some branch of a nomadic tribe might have used my neighborhood as a hunting ground 12,000 years ago has little impact to the discussion of it's urban development.
Meanwhile Athens and what not can easily be seen as an actual city even 2000BCE.
We're fairly business focused, so when someone goes man I wish there was a way to meet people, they create a .com to help people meet (filled with bots) instead of trying to actually meet people.
At any rate, bars DO exist in the United States and last I heard they didn't all go out of business in the last week.
Every parking lot is an opportunity for community. In my experience tailgating is considerably more than minutes and has a very strong community. Admittedly I do not have much experience with tailgating but my limited experience strongly suggests that it is a very tight knit community that goes beyond the actual event.
Parking lots are private spaces where the store management can ask you to leave at any time. That some don't is almost a happy accident.
Compared to a public park where anyone is free to loiter and play. Plus parks are usually segregated from cars so you don't have to worry about a random car not paying attention killing you, the ground isn't hot pavement everywhere, there might be playground equipment and benches and picnic tables, etc.
Cities own parking lots but privately owned parking lots are generally easier to get access to for events, far less red tape and who ever owns it gets brownie points with the community.
People will say they want these things and then move to some far flung enclave of a suburb neighborhood, vote against transit and bike lanes, vote to widen highways, and fight removing parking minimums.
In America big cities “squares” are associated with crime and homelessness. Times Square (NYC) and Union Square (SF) being two examples.
The crime wave of the 80s and 90s really messed up urban architecture.
Parks got a similar reputation- even now there’s still a “good park”/“bad park” mentality.
Mass surveillance has its downsides, but safer public spaces is not one.
Because we have mainstreets, buildings, blocks, community centers, parks, American-style squares, and so on. The sense of community that Americans are hungry for is ultimately the post war sort that has been dying out in recent decades; the ideal. We are a country in transition but the transition will probably not be shortened through planning, that is a bit too close to the dying post war ideal. Growing pains, we are still young.
Depends on what you mean by "young". By some measures, the U.S. is one of the oldest nations in the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_modern_sovereign_state...
I am not talking about political borders. The countries of the new world are completely separated from the culture of the land, uncharted territory.
The city I live in practically didn't exist by most measures until the 1940s. Meanwhile many cities in Europe draw roots back a few thousand years BCE. The lot my house is on was barely even used as farmland in 1960, and got turned into a residential area finally in the 80s.
But sure I'll trust you in telling me this is a much older civilization than Greece. Makes sense.
Mesolithic Greece, starting in 13,000 BC is more or less on par with civilisation in North Texas: https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/discover/campfire-stories/am...
Where Greece has it over your region is Paleolithic Greek history which stretches back further.
Revisionist history you're pushing here. They didn't develop cities like anything you'd think of as a city today. Small roaming developments of maybe a few hundred people tops. So when we're discussing "urban design" it's pretty irrelevant. That some branch of a nomadic tribe might have used my neighborhood as a hunting ground 12,000 years ago has little impact to the discussion of it's urban development.
Meanwhile Athens and what not can easily be seen as an actual city even 2000BCE.
You’re absolutely right about this.
The Republic of Venice, Holy Roman Empire, and Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth were all still around when America was founded.
Malta was still under the control of the Crusaders. Mongols still occupied Crimea.
The modern European map really comes from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Many European memories of nationhood are quite fake, and often deliberately so.
We're fairly business focused, so when someone goes man I wish there was a way to meet people, they create a .com to help people meet (filled with bots) instead of trying to actually meet people.
At any rate, bars DO exist in the United States and last I heard they didn't all go out of business in the last week.
We have something similar in major cities. We have them here in Chicago.
Because the American way is to put a big ol' parking lot where that square would go.
Tailgating is American and is community.
> and is community
For some minutes during a few months, in a minuscule % of a massive number parking lots.
It doesn't feel like an in-kind replacement for what we've lost.
Every parking lot is an opportunity for community. In my experience tailgating is considerably more than minutes and has a very strong community. Admittedly I do not have much experience with tailgating but my limited experience strongly suggests that it is a very tight knit community that goes beyond the actual event.
Parking lots are private spaces where the store management can ask you to leave at any time. That some don't is almost a happy accident.
Compared to a public park where anyone is free to loiter and play. Plus parks are usually segregated from cars so you don't have to worry about a random car not paying attention killing you, the ground isn't hot pavement everywhere, there might be playground equipment and benches and picnic tables, etc.
Cities own parking lots but privately owned parking lots are generally easier to get access to for events, far less red tape and who ever owns it gets brownie points with the community.
Because we can and do sacrifice everything for car culture - starting with childhood.
People will say they want these things and then move to some far flung enclave of a suburb neighborhood, vote against transit and bike lanes, vote to widen highways, and fight removing parking minimums.