OK, I might not understand what you’re saying here. I agree that this is the primary issue people raise and that means this isn’t discussed enough, but I figured that would dominate the article if I focused on it.
A few things… Circulating air even from all the way outside is a lot cheaper and easier to deal with than the sunlight issue, so fresh air is really not a huge issue.
You mention “worst neighborhoods” near the ground implying there is a section of the city where crime is high, but there are no streets near the bottom: Any poor people living below are living in a small space accessible by stairs or elevators directly from the streets at the top.
Idk if this is complete, but here’s a capitalist argument: People vote with their feet. They can always live further out and commute in. If the conditions are actually worse than another place, poorer folks will try it out and leave to enjoy life somewhere more reasonable. If the full negative sunlight/window economic externalities caused by putting up a new building are assessed and charged to the new owner (I should include this), the owner won’t build if he (and others) can’t get enough return on the lower sections. If people don’t like not having sunlight and they’re still there, maybe it’s legitimately worth it to them? For example, maybe they’re earning way more money than they would otherwise.
Indeed you mention dense thin rows of buildings, but doesn’t it change the whole calculus here? And more or less turns this into a Manhattan with underground car tunnels, or something close to it? I’m also not quite convinced this approach will work that well even in California, in the sense of making people happy with their view. Plus, when there’s a lot of another problem arises with these shafts—they heat up very quickly without wind. Yes, ventilation, but that costs money and I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a “ventilated courtyard”, so probably nontrivial amount of money.
I think dense thin rows of buildings can still achieve very high per-floor area ratios, maybe 2⁄3 or so, allowing most of the ridiculously high density Manhattan doesn’t come close to. View can probably be included in the negative externalities charged to new construction. Hot air rises, giving a free ventilation force. Just want to note here that moving this amount of air with fans really isn’t that expensive anyway.
What about truck noise?
Yeah, 50 ft is just the figure I found. Trucks would also likely be going slower than 30 mph. “For every doubling of distance, the sound level reduces by 6 decibels.” Soundproofing is a combination of reflection and absorption; Add absorption materials to reduce echos. People live next to streets with trucks using them already, right?
Snow
Fair enough, how about pushing snow into chutes or tubs and having trucks ship it out? Or throw it into the trash AVAC system?
Robo delivery theft
Tbh fast response times, dash cams, high use streets, and police should be enough to handle this even with mixed traffic, although the separated infrastructure pays for itself readily in robot speed and throughput. Navigation can be done either with paint and optical sensors, magnetic markers, or fixed digital broadcasts from frequent points.
Seeing Like a State
OK, the point I’m trying to make here is that these critiques apply as much to existing suburbs and cities as they do here in the sense that: Centralized systems like mass transit, utilities, and emergency services are everywhere. Regulations and codes around building and transportation are everywhere. Government spending on centralized systems and many more things is also everywhere. The amount of top down planning used in existing municipalities is already quite high, and I think this about matches it, not being notably more other than just actually addressing super-high density development. I just don’t think the comparison to master-planning is actually reasonable.
If anything this design moves more things from a flat “no, everything has to be this way” to a “sure if it’s actually worth it” approach to regulation. I’m sure there are things about peoples’ preferences I’m not aware of here, and it’s important to make things a little flexible and open to later change because of that. However, I’m not sure you have a better understanding, either. Existing systems have made the decision for us on a lot of matters and may realistically not have a lot of reason to those decisions.
Thanks again for your input!
OK, I might not understand what you’re saying here. I agree that this is the primary issue people raise and that means this isn’t discussed enough, but I figured that would dominate the article if I focused on it.
A few things… Circulating air even from all the way outside is a lot cheaper and easier to deal with than the sunlight issue, so fresh air is really not a huge issue.
You mention “worst neighborhoods” near the ground implying there is a section of the city where crime is high, but there are no streets near the bottom: Any poor people living below are living in a small space accessible by stairs or elevators directly from the streets at the top.
Idk if this is complete, but here’s a capitalist argument: People vote with their feet. They can always live further out and commute in. If the conditions are actually worse than another place, poorer folks will try it out and leave to enjoy life somewhere more reasonable. If the full negative sunlight/window economic externalities caused by putting up a new building are assessed and charged to the new owner (I should include this), the owner won’t build if he (and others) can’t get enough return on the lower sections. If people don’t like not having sunlight and they’re still there, maybe it’s legitimately worth it to them? For example, maybe they’re earning way more money than they would otherwise.
I think dense thin rows of buildings can still achieve very high per-floor area ratios, maybe 2⁄3 or so, allowing most of the ridiculously high density Manhattan doesn’t come close to. View can probably be included in the negative externalities charged to new construction. Hot air rises, giving a free ventilation force. Just want to note here that moving this amount of air with fans really isn’t that expensive anyway.
Yeah, 50 ft is just the figure I found. Trucks would also likely be going slower than 30 mph. “For every doubling of distance, the sound level reduces by 6 decibels.” Soundproofing is a combination of reflection and absorption; Add absorption materials to reduce echos. People live next to streets with trucks using them already, right?
Fair enough, how about pushing snow into chutes or tubs and having trucks ship it out? Or throw it into the trash AVAC system?
Tbh fast response times, dash cams, high use streets, and police should be enough to handle this even with mixed traffic, although the separated infrastructure pays for itself readily in robot speed and throughput. Navigation can be done either with paint and optical sensors, magnetic markers, or fixed digital broadcasts from frequent points.
OK, the point I’m trying to make here is that these critiques apply as much to existing suburbs and cities as they do here in the sense that: Centralized systems like mass transit, utilities, and emergency services are everywhere. Regulations and codes around building and transportation are everywhere. Government spending on centralized systems and many more things is also everywhere. The amount of top down planning used in existing municipalities is already quite high, and I think this about matches it, not being notably more other than just actually addressing super-high density development. I just don’t think the comparison to master-planning is actually reasonable.
If anything this design moves more things from a flat “no, everything has to be this way” to a “sure if it’s actually worth it” approach to regulation. I’m sure there are things about peoples’ preferences I’m not aware of here, and it’s important to make things a little flexible and open to later change because of that. However, I’m not sure you have a better understanding, either. Existing systems have made the decision for us on a lot of matters and may realistically not have a lot of reason to those decisions.