tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post4728107293435319810..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Structural Change to Watch from Social Distancing in the PandemicSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-15748559264069482842020-03-18T12:25:12.329-07:002020-03-18T12:25:12.329-07:00A defense of cities from Strong Towns, "Let&#...A defense of cities from Strong Towns, "<a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/3/18/lets-not-forget-what-we-build-cities-for" rel="nofollow">Let's Not Forget What We Build Cities For</a>."<br /><br />"<i>It’s not clear, therefore, that suburban dwellers really have a leg up on social distancing. Consider the crowds and long lines encountered at Walmart and Costco stores this week. Suburbanites go to coffee shops and gyms too. They go to music festivals and political rallies. They go to school and work. When they buy food and medicine, someone has to staff the grocery stores and pharmacies. Someone has to manufacture and deliver those products. Nursing homes and hospitals need caregivers.<br /><br />And there are ways in which spread-out living arrangements might even speed contagion, because our lives are less local than ever, for both better and worse. In the traditional city, a larger percentage of your interactions might take place close to home, resulting in geographic clusters of disease that can be tracked and contained. But we've normalized long-distance travel in modern America, not just for tourism but for everyday purposes. When you work 30 miles from where you live—and your coworkers in turn live all over a large metropolitan region, attend different places of worship and send their kids to different schools—tracing and containing transmission chains becomes almost impossible very quickly.</i>"Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-75382176718590741292020-03-17T20:57:50.461-07:002020-03-17T20:57:50.461-07:00The Architecture Critic at the NY Times offers &qu...The Architecture Critic at the NY Times offers "<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/world/europe/coronavirus-city-life.html" rel="nofollow">Can City Life Survive Coronavirus?</a>"<br /><br />"<i>The very notion of streets, shared housing and public spaces stemmed from and fostered a kind of collective affirmation, a sense that people are all in this together.<br /><br />Pandemics prey on this relentlessly. They are anti-urban. They exploit our impulse to congregate. And our response so far — social distancing — not only runs up against our fundamental desires to interact, but also against the way we have built our cities and plazas, subways and skyscrapers. They are all designed to be occupied and animated collectively. For many urban systems to work properly, density is the goal, not the enemy.</i>"Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-88529854713371341622020-03-16T18:09:26.427-07:002020-03-16T18:09:26.427-07:00Here's more from Strong Towns, including a cou...Here's more from Strong Towns, including a couple of February notes I missed.<br /><br />On Keynesiansism, "<a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/2/11/the-financial-experiment-at-the-foundation-of-the-green-new-deal" rel="nofollow">The Financial Experiment at the Foundation of the Green New Deal</a>" (Feb 11)<br /><br />Their first note on the prospect of a pandemic, "<a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/2/3/coronavirus-traffic-deaths-and-building-a-strong-town" rel="nofollow">Coronavirus, Traffic Deaths, and Building a Strong Town</a>" (Feb 3) And today on the pandemic, "<a href="https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020/3/15/were-about-to-witness-the-best-humans-have-to-offer" rel="nofollow">We're about to witness the best humans have to offer</a>" (March 16)Salem Breakfast on Bikeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.com