In Allison Arieff’s post today for the New York Times’ By Design blog on “Saving the Suburbs,” there were a bunch of ideas, fired off like grape shot from a hundred-gun ship (it was a long post).
One of these caught my attention: Transit-oriented residences, which would amount to high-density developments based near rail stations. Here’s an artist’s rendering of the Mashpee Commons from Mashpee, Massachusetts:
Rendering of Mashpee Commons
As we see here, high-density neighborhoods can look really nice. The rendering reminds me a bit of Cambridge, MA, which I’ve visited, and also looks more than a little like a college campus (Notre Dame or the Univ. of Toronto, specifically). To put a business district and a rail station in the neighborhood would make for a really nice place to live.
The rendering reminds me of something else, as well: Sim City. When I was a kid, I would try to build neighborhoods with railways and was always forced to retrofit them to roads, no matter how many stations I made. I’ve always preferred trains to cars, and I still prefer the former — you have your hands free on the train, and can read a book or play Game Boy or fart around with your Blackberry without having to concern yourself with traffic or weather conditions.
That being said, I like walking best, which is why I live down the street from my office. My commute consists of a five-minute walk to and from work — and lunch, some days.
What do you think?
Would you want to live in a railway suburb? How do you think our transportation system will change as we wean ourselves off of petroleum?
Filed under: City Life, Uncategorized | Tagged: cities of the future, housing crisis, mass transit, neighborhoods, peak oil, suburbs, Urban planning
I would love to have easy access to a good railway system. I lived in Germany for a year, and there a car was a convenience, not a necessity, and I got on perfectly well without one. I’d love to be able to read, write, or sleep on my morning commute.
I’m not sure I’d like life as a Sim. What with the nuclear meltdowns, alien attacks and the unseen hand of The Creator bulldozing my home for high-density commercial, there just seems to be too many risks involved.