i have only been able to skim this discussion, but haven't noticed any discussion about quality of life. does increasing urban density affect crime rates? are there mental health issues? i live on second street, which is not terribly crowded, and feel like this is just about as close to other people as i'm interested in being. i would like to live in the country, but we travel too much into town for that to be a good decision right now.
why is population density preferable? is it for reasons of travel? freeing land up for farming? thanks, marlo On May 8, 2008, at 12:44 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > > A good way to get started on increasing density is with in-fill > projects and > redevelopment of low-density, one-story retail into 3-4 story mixed > use > buildings. There are many opportunities to do this on State Street > for example. > But we need to combine this will changing zoning and building > codes to allow > this type of development. Then we need to connect that to > changing the > parking requirements for buildings. If we had good public transit > available, we > could build apartments over retail/commercial spaces and more > fully utilize > the land for people and urban permaculture instead of parking > lots. Connect > Ithaca's vision is for exactly this kind of redevelopment. And > that is why > they are hosting the international podcar conference here in > Ithaca in > September. We need a more user-friendly public transit system in > order to attract > people into downtown life without a car. We also need land use > policy that > makes it difficult to add to rural sprawl. Don't follow the > Lansing model of > growth! > > Gay > > > In a message dated 5/8/2008 9:38:37 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > Andy Goodell wrote: >> ... >> Short of everyone renting out their space to more people or >> subdividing > their land to allow for more density, how do you envision > increasing density > being any better? > I think these matters really would be a good first order of > business, if > we're to look for a way out of this mess. The situation is serious > enough to warrant a reexamination of all the premises of our current > culture. What, exactly, would be wrong with everyone renting out > their > space to more people? Or subdividing land? As for how increased > density > would be any better, George has sketched enough of it to get my > attention. > > >> The towns and cities have been built, and they could have been built > better, but I don't see an easy way to change that now. > > Probably there is a way to change it now -- are we actually > waiting for > an *easy* way to do it? But even without changing what's built, at > least > we could stop building more of the same. > > Andrejs > _______________________________________________ > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Gay Nicholson, Ph.D. > > 607-533-7312 (home office) > 607-279-6618 (cell) > > 1 Maple Avenue > Lansing, NY 14882 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sustainable Tompkins > Program Coordinator > w_ww.sustainabletompkins.org_ (http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/) > > Southern Tier Energy$mart Communities > Regional Coordinator > Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County > 615 Willow Ave., Ithaca, NY 14850 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists > on family > favorites at AOL Food. > (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001) > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County > area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org Marlo Capoccia Garden Gate www.gardengatedelivery.com _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
