Excuse the new post but there are two very important points raised by the comments on the Sketch Comments post:
In the first comment, Not Ed Risse (welcome back!) said:
“Henry George is irrelevant when exclusionary zoning prevents higher density housing that an otherwise free market would support and build.
“Most of the dysfunction you decry is the result of government control of land use, not the decisions of ill informed consumers or speculative developers.”
EMR agrees. If one searches “cambium layer” in The Shape of the Future they will find text that articulates that point and puts in the context of the New Urban Region Conceptual Framework.
NER used the term “most” to start the second paragraph and this is VERY important. There are also other forces at work – within the context of dysfunctional governance structure.
For example suing Arlington County and HUD over The First Baptist Church of Clarendon’s multi-use plan on First Amendment grounds is misuse of the US of A Constitution to promote personal privilege over Neighborhood and Village interests. WaPo 21 March.
In an amazing juxtaposition, on 22 March a similar plan by a Swedish firm is covered in WaPo with the headline “A sign of life in commercial real estate?”
In fact buildings near METRO stations (the facts in both cases) with a creative mix of use can help meet the need for METRO to become more functional by balancing the travel demand and by decreasing the need for any vehicle trip to support many of the requirements of quality life styles in the station areas.
And speaking of quality of life…
In the second comment Larry said:
“I think if you interviewed the 100-mile a day folks – that most of them would agree that their work/home situation IS..DYSFUNCTIONAL …”
YES, they do know that but they continue to believe the Myths that prevents rational actions AND as Larry said THEY HAVE NO BETTER OPTION due to the dysfunctional governance structure.
He goes on to say:
“…but they’re not going to live in a 1000 square foot hovel with strange characters hanging out on the streets and schools where their kids are not safe and can’t learn.”
If Larry could just wrap his brain around the fact that 5 persons per acre within the Clear Edge and 10 to 30 person per acre in the built environment INSIDE the Clear Edge has NOTHING to do with “1,000 sq ft hovels and strange characters.” See STARK CONTRAST.
If one wants to encounter ‘strange characters’ at the Dooryard and Clusters scales look to LOWER density areas. Check the data on SubRegions (Inside the Clear Edge and Outside the Clear Edge.) with 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 persons per acre. You will find the higher the density, the LOWER the number that fall outside the bell curve on ALL measures of social compatibility – a more formal way to say ‘strange characters.’ See EMR post on Green Metropolis INCLUDING discussion of the four tragic flaws.
For example one will find the LOWER the density the higher the per capita ‘deaths at the hands of strangers.’ Spotsy Cnty is far more dangerous than Arlington Cnty according to Prof Lucy’s research for example.
Myths are powerful forces that befuddle even the most thoughtful.
EMR