The Scarcity of Nice Places

[ysabetwordsmith]

This article talks about the scarcity of nice places. Some thoughts ...


* Lack of amenities is a real and serious problem. Just as one example, greenspace improves health, but poor neighborhoods have much less of it.

* Gentrification is a real and serious problem. The nicer something is, the more it costs, and that forces out people who can't afford it. This problem is so bad that some cities have basically emptied themselves of poor and middle-class people because it costs so much to live there. Given this, improvements read as threats to home and survival, so that makes people fight them. If they can only afford to live in shitty places, then they must defend the shittiness that makes those places accessible to them, because it deters predatory rich people.

* In order to make improvements without displacing current residents, you have to find ways of blocking the hikes in everything from rent and home prices to costs in local stores and restaurants. This is difficult at best and often impossible. One approach is to make citywide improvements; if all areas have working streetlights or intact sidewalks, then they will be no financial distinction because of their presence or lack.

* The article's suggestion that we build lots of nice things and places is valid in that this would reduce competition and thus prices. Building new ones is good. So is revitalizing nearly empty old ones. It's when you try to improve shitty places where all the poor people have crowded in for lack of better options that you run into serious problems. So cities also need to build lots of new affordable housing -- about three times what we currently have in order to cover the demand.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

Thing is, adding extra amenities and generally improving crappy neighborhoods costs money... costs which get passed along to the house buyers, thus pricing the nicer areas out of reach of a lot of people. Which means those that can't afford the house prices, end up in other, different, shitty neighborhoods.

Shittiness is a lot like entropy, you can't get rid of it, just move it around.

The only real way to overcome the problem of crappy neighborhoods is to increase the general wealth of the population, thus increasing the resources (through taxation) to make less crappy residential areas.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thing is, adding extra amenities and generally improving crappy neighborhoods costs money... costs which get passed along to the house buyers, thus pricing the nicer areas out of reach of a lot of people. Which means those that can't afford the house prices, end up in other, different, shitty neighborhoods. <<

Prevailingly true in this society. As I said, that's why people fight against improvements, so they don't get evicted.

>> Shittiness is a lot like entropy, you can't get rid of it, just move it around. <<

This is not true. It is a thing people create, and thus, a thing they could do away with by making different choices. Not all societies or economies have this extreme wealth gap.

In a gift economy, for example, wealth is defined not by what you have but by what you give away. This keeps things moving. Furthermore, greed is seen as shameful, and if some people have nothing, that is a disgrace on those who have much but do not share it. The community as a whole reflects on all its members, which motivates them to take care of each other.

>> The only real way to overcome the problem of crappy neighborhoods is to increase the general wealth of the population, thus increasing the resources (through taxation) to make less crappy residential areas. <<

That's one approach. There are others.

Some people have walked away from cities with untenable environments and built something else somewhere else. It's not easy, it doesn't always work, but some have succeeded in making places that are much healthier for humans. They just aren't as fancy as the downtowns. But we're not comparing with downtowns, we're comparing with shitty neighborhoods, and it's not hard to beat those because the bar is lying in a ditch.

Re: Thoughts

[siliconshaman]

Hmm.. and now I'm thinking of "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas"... there is a parallel to be drawn here thinking about it.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

A college teacher asked if we'd stay or walk away. I said I'd break out the scapegoat, spread accelerant, and throw a match behind me as I left.

Not only did nobody else in the class think of stopping the problem, the teacher had never heard an alternative solution either. O_O For fucksake people.

Re: Thoughts

[siliconshaman]

Funny, that was my thought as well...

Now, consider that in relation to the problem of nicer neighborhoods and how they perpetuate the system of inequality.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Funny, that was my thought as well... <<

Yaaayyyy! :D I'm so happy to hear that.

>> Now, consider that in relation to the problem of nicer neighborhoods and how they perpetuate the system of inequality. <<

Ah well, I have more tools now than I did earlier. I've had more time to test what works in this culture. Turns out, the most effective tactic -- the one with the highest throughput of people saying "I did the thing" -- is plain old storytelling. So I describe nice places, and I analyze what makes them nice, and I explain how people can move in that direction if they choose to do so.

What they actually do is up to them. But I find it encouraging that people ask me how to make their hometown more like Bluehill.

Re: Thoughts

[acelightning73]

I would like to see someone base a community on the principle of "Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears..."

I have always wished that there could be some way I could live in the top of the Empire State Building. Now there are very tall apartment/condo buildings going up all along 57th street (Billionaires' Row). There's one building referred to as the Sliver, beccause it tapers inward at the top in order to satisfy zoning regulations. It's also called Steinway Tower, because it was permitted because the builders bought the air rights above the old Steinway Building, across the street from Carnegie Hall. Now, I'm not the mistress of an oil sheik from the Emirates, so I can't afford one of those apartments.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> I would like to see someone base a community on the principle of "Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears..." <<

I like that idea.

"The White Tower of Ecthelion, glimmering like a spike of pearl and silver, its banners caught high in the morning breeze."

It's a challenging model of architecture, but possible.

A lot easier to obtain is a multicolored city. All that takes is some paint and a refusal to be boring.

Re: Thoughts

[(Anonymous)]

Ancient Roman's painted their concrete. Really pretty, too.

Also see the murals in Philadelphia.

Re: Thoughts

[acelightning73]

My response to the situation in the story would be to figure out why the magic needs someone to be in misery, and couldn't we figure out how to power the spell with something like sex energy - if the entire city is engaging in orgiastic sex as often as possible, wouldn't that work?

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

*laugh* Go you. That is a much less destructive approach.

Re: Thoughts

[acelightning73]

I was taught, very early in my Wiccan training, that one can use BDSM techniques to raise power for a magical working, or one can simply resort to blood sacrifice and use the departing life energy to power the spell. But I was also taught that for smaller workings, you could raise enough power by ecstatic dancing, sex magick (which can be performed alone, never mind orgies), choral singing, and even drugs. (Think of the legends about how the Witches of the British Isles kept the Spanish Armada away from the beaches of England, and magically prevented Hitler from invading, and how some of the older Witches deliberately gave up their lives in arduous working (often performed outdoors, skyclad, in typical English weather) in order to make the magic as powerful as possible. It worked, in both cases.

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Yes, those can work. And a willing sacrifice is always MUCH more powerful than an unwilling victim.

Re: Thoughts

[(Anonymous)]

My take a third option suggestion : remember that story about the guy who traveled across the border every day with saddlebags full of hay? And it turns out he was smuggling donkeys? (Or a kid with bikes, or a guy with a wheelbarrow of rubbish...)

Take the city 'away' one bit at a time. Ask the emigrants to smuggle bricks out in their bags.

It'll take longer, but it'll be less noticable, make the bad cost seamless worth it, and you wont have people in favor of the system calling you "violent, destructive [slur]s."*

*Seriously, I've been trying to soften some aquaintences' attitudes towards recent social movements, and the biggest/most effective counterargument is "I'm not supporting vandals/arsonists!"

Re: Thoughts

[(Anonymous)]

>>...Some people have walked away from cities...<<

Idea: Is there a way for regular people to build affordable housing? Crowdfunding perhaps?

A buy-by-paying-rent development that allows farm animals and gardens while being decinly-sized for human life would be awesome.

Someplace more populated could maybe do this with apartment buildings, too. Crowdfund, buy the building from the slumlord, fix it up, set up a resident's association, and have people 'buy' the apartment for keeps with regular rent payments.

You could even combine the idea with that college student and immigrant housing they tried in, Finland, I think. Or adjust it for different demographics in your area.

Also, one could keep the value low by designing undesirable features...like a scruffy native-plant lawn, or encouraging people to dry their laundry in the front yard.

Criticism and suggestions?

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Idea: Is there a way for regular people to build affordable housing? Crowdfunding perhaps? <<

It depends on the place. Many cities have banned most or all the options, and then whine about the bad outcomes.

There are ways to build affordable housing, such as:

* Move somewhere that doesn't have zoning and build whatever you damn please. This is usually what intentional communities will do. While it's hard for new ones to survive, getting into an established one is often much easier.

* Allow accessory dwelling units. Some desperate towns are changing their codes to permit this. An advantage is that some types -- attic, basement, or garage apartments -- add nothing to the footprint.

* Cottage courtyards are both affordable and encouraging of socialization. They have several small homes sharing a common yard, and can be done rent or own. At 1-2 bedrooms each, these are ideal starter homes for young families or retirement homes for empty nesters.

* A tiny house village is a similar concept. Many designs for these are simple enough for ordinary people to build.

* Trailer parks or modular home parks can make for very affordable living. To avoid usury, it is best if the land is owned by a neighborhood collective and rented by households; currently the land is usually owned by a single outside landlord, which invites many abuses. Note that for safety's sake you really need either a community storm shelter or a storm porch on every home.

* A similar approach will work for tiny houses on wheels. Think something like RV parking.

* A very good option is small apartment buildings with 4-16 units. These often fit on a corner lot. Adding efficiency and 1-bedroom units to a typical neighborhood of 2-3 bedroom houses will widen the range of people who can afford to live there. They don't cost much more to build than a single-family house of similar size.

* Shipping container homes. While not allowed in many areas, these are becoming more popular where they are.

https://www.24hplans.com/top-20-shipping-container-home-designs-and-their-costs/

https://www.customcontainerliving.com/view-all.html

* This type of modular development is described in notes. Individuals can buy in with a small or large unit suited to their needs.

>>A buy-by-paying-rent development that allows farm animals and gardens while being decinly-sized for human life would be awesome.<<

See halal mortgages.

>>Someplace more populated could maybe do this with apartment buildings, too. Crowdfund, buy the building from the slumlord, fix it up, set up a resident's association, and have people 'buy' the apartment for keeps with regular rent payments.<<

Some people have done this.

Also, hotels make excellent conversions to small apartments.

>>You could even combine the idea with that college student and immigrant housing they tried in, Finland, I think. Or adjust it for different demographics in your area.<<

Good idea.

>>Also, one could keep the value low by designing undesirable features...like a scruffy native-plant lawn, or encouraging people to dry their laundry in the front yard.<<

Another good approach is car-low or carless housing adjacent to mass-transit.

This can also work if you build live-work developments, where people will live above their own workplace and be able to walk to other people's workplaces for everyday errands. While illegal to build in most places, some towns are doing away with parking minimums. So long as you ensure people don't need a car there, it's okay to build housing without parking.