Urban planning
As gas prices soar, market for some surburban homes will disappear
People who own homes in far-off suburbs will soon realize that there's no longer any market for their houses. Or so says Christopher Steiner in his new book $20 per gallon: How the inevitable rise in the price of gasoline will change our lives for the better.
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Suburban homes will lose their value once gas prices take off, according to new book.
Steiner argues that as the price of gas inevitably rises, nobody will want to live too far away from their workplace -- or any other place they need to go to regularly for that matter. And that includes shops and schools, because it will just be too darn expensive to get there.
Telecommuting will begin to expand rapidly. As in the old days trains will become the mode of national transportation, and the price of flying will become prohibitive. In addition, families will begin to migrate southward as the price of heating northern homes in the winter is too expensive.
As the title of his book suggests, Steiner's outlook is generally positive about this radically different future. "Weaning ourselves from gasoline isn't a scary thing, it's an exciting thing. We're talking about cleaner environments, more walkable lives, better public transportation and more vibrant cities." A bonus is we will all be skinnier as our dependence of cars diminishes.
From a real-estate perspective, the message is clear: move to a walkable neighborhood where groceries, your kids' schools, your office or a train are all within several blocks.
The good news is San Francisco scores well in this regard: the city boasts 34 walkable neighborhoods according to Walk Score. The bad news, of course, is most of us can't afford to buy a home there.
| July 24 2009 at 08:45 AM
Safeway's new plans for Rockridge rock the boat -- again
As disagreements continue to be voiced about plans for a new Safeway in one part of Rockridge, Oakland, a mooted design for another new Safeway, also in Rockridge, is causing consternation.
Many believe the latest designs for the Claremont Ave/College Ave Safeway are out of scale with the neighborhood which is primarily made up of smaller shops and boutiques.
www.docstoc.com
Safeway's proposal for the Broadway-Pleasant Valley Rd site in Rockridge is a cause of debate.
Now the blueprints for a redeveloped Safeway in the Rockridge Center Mall at Broadway and Pleasant Valley Rd are being described as "offensive" and "disrespectful".
The idea is to demolish the existing Safeway and Long's Drugs stores, along with other adjacent stores, and redevelop the site with a new Safeway store, a new CVS store, as well as other commercial buildings. The result would be approximately 304,000 sq ft of commercial space and 1,006 parking spaces.
John Gatewood, a co-founder of ULTRA (Urbanists for a Livable Temescal Rockridge Area) argues that rather than seize the opportunity to create a less auto-oriented, more pedestrian environment, the plans are proposing "a strip mall proposal that walls itself off from the neighborhoods". (Read his opinion here.)
There has been much discussion about the issue in the local blogosphere, much of it constructive. Read about the transit implications of the plans, for instance, on Transbay Blog.
A Planning Commission meeting will be held about the development tomorrow, on July 15.
| July 14 2009 at 11:06 AM
The suburbs of the future: what's your vision?
Earlier this year when we wrote about home developments in suburbia -- or more precisely, what the future might hold for suburbia -- many readers weighed in with their thoughts. Opinion was neatly divided between those who saw no rationale for building homes that would require their owners to make long daily commutes; and those for whom "gritty crime ridden" inner-city living was anathema and suburbia still held the promise of the American dream.
www.chicagoist.com
What will tomorrow's sustainable suburbs look like?
Now the time has come to put theory into practice as everyone is being given a chance to come up with their own vision for a brighter, more sustainable American suburban landscape.
The "Reburbia Design Contest", launched by Dwell Magazine and sustainable design website Inhabitat, asks entrants to "show us how you would re-invent the suburbs. What would a McMansion become if it weren't a single-family dwelling? How could a vacant big box store be retrofitted for agriculture?"
The premise underlying the competition is that "with the current housing crisis, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, increasing carbon emissions and rising energy costs, the future of suburbia looks bleak. It is obvious that a change in the American landscape is necessary".
Winners will be showcased in Dwell Magazine, on Dwell.com and on Inhabitat.com and receive a $1,000 cash prize.
For more information, including how to enter, click here.
| July 13 2009 at 10:39 AM
Traffic congestion a problem? Rip up the freeway
It may sound completely counter-intuitive, but one way to reduce traffic congestion in cities is to eliminate roads.
In fact San Franciscans know this well, the concept having been proven twice over in their city. The Embarcadero Freeway once divided downtown from the bay. In its place today is a waterfront boulevard with bike trails, parks, and public exhibitions. And nobody could claim to miss the Central Freeway which was replaced with the much more pleasing Octavia Boulevard, but still manages a high volume of traffic.
www.infrastructurist.com
In Seoul, South Korea, a river takes back its rightful place in the heart of the city.
Both these changes came about as a result of damage wrought by the Loma Prieta earthquake. In Seoul, South Korea, it took a visionary mayor rather than a natural disaster to bring a beautiful new parkland to the city's center after a 1970s-era highway that literally paved over parts of the Cheonggyecheon River was demolished. The result is clear to see -- a beautiful green artery running through the heart of the city -- and traffic congestion has decreased significantly.
Similar cases can be cited in Portland, Or. and Boston, Mass., the latter after the city's main highway was rerouted into a 3.5-mile underground tunnel in what became known as the Big Dig project.
The Infrastructurist has the low-down on why taking away a road can both ease traffic problems and radically improve the lives of a city's residents.
| July 07 2009 at 03:28 PM
