For example, Tokyo is one massive spiderweb of expressways with many independent commercial districts.
Almost all of which would fit neatly within Dallas's I-635 loop.
If you've ever been to Dallas, you know there's like two more fucking loops outside the 635. I don't think you understand just how fucking huge American cities are.
Consider this: The M25 Motorway, which encircles ALL of London, is 117 miles long. The Kansas City I-435 + I-470 + HW-291 loop, which doesn't even successfully loop the city anymore, is like 20 miles longer. It takes at least two fucking hours to drive all the way around the outskirts of Kansas City, I know it cuz I've had to do it a bunch of times.
Because the sprawl has become an emergent phenomena that is self reinforcing.
Are you familiar with conway's game of life?
What we have produced is a system of urbanization that, in a sense, behaves like a fire. Our cities don't properly increase in average density and land value in a smooth transition like you see in Europe and Asia. Instead, they're burning outwards leaving a growing circle of rot behind them.
You can create "fire" patterns in conway's game of life that take pristine space, and leave behind low density wreckage as the wave burns through. That's what I think we have created. There is no countervailing force to arrest the successive growth of rings around the burned out core.
Almost all of which would fit neatly within Dallas's I-635 loop.
If you've ever been to Dallas, you know there's like two more fucking loops outside the 635. I don't think you understand just how fucking huge American cities are.
Consider this: The M25 Motorway, which encircles ALL of London, is 117 miles long. The Kansas City I-435 + I-470 + HW-291 loop, which doesn't even successfully loop the city anymore, is like 20 miles longer. It takes at least two fucking hours to drive all the way around the outskirts of Kansas City, I know it cuz I've had to do it a bunch of times.
Yes they are.
Now, consider: In that same space, the GTA manages to fit ten million more people than the total population of Texas.
This is why mass transit doesn't work in the US.
Because the sprawl has become an emergent phenomena that is self reinforcing.
Are you familiar with conway's game of life?
What we have produced is a system of urbanization that, in a sense, behaves like a fire. Our cities don't properly increase in average density and land value in a smooth transition like you see in Europe and Asia. Instead, they're burning outwards leaving a growing circle of rot behind them.
You can create "fire" patterns in conway's game of life that take pristine space, and leave behind low density wreckage as the wave burns through. That's what I think we have created. There is no countervailing force to arrest the successive growth of rings around the burned out core.
To put it another way, our cities are growing like this...