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Comment on How extreme car dependency is driving Americans to unhappiness

As I always say in posts about this topic: Living in a walkable city is nice. I can just walk outside and get groceries. No traffic. No fuel costs. No insurance. No maintenance. No parking. I just walk down the street and get stuff. If there’s a lot of stuff I need, I bring a cart, but I almost never need to do that.

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pupbiru@aussie.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
or to “damn i forgot something” and just… walk on back to get it without it being a big deal

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astronaut_sloth@mander.xyz ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

Living in a walkable city is nice.

This is so true! I was telling my family about that a few years ago when I was living in a semi-walkable place, and then they started grilling me about how long it takes me to do things. I had to concede that it does take longer to walk in some cases than drive, BUT the travel to and from is actually nice, and I look forward to the walk as time for looking around and enjoying my time. They didn’t understand, but they also will get in their car to drive a mile, so…

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- jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It’s also a lot easier to stop and do something fun when you’re walking. Pop in a new shop, take a detour through a park, whatever. Usually when you’re driving you’re going too fast to really take in what’s around, and stopping is often a whole ordeal of finding parking.
  
  “Death and Life of Great American Cities” talked about this. It’s old, but still an interesting read.
  
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Kbobabob@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
Most of the places that I’ve looked at that are walkable are a lot more expensive to live. Unfortunately, I think this is a luxury that a lot of people do not have the means to access.

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- jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  This is probably true for a lot of places. I’ve mostly lived in the NYC area so I don’t know what the costs and expenses are elsewhere very well.
  
  You can get a 1BR apartment in Brooklyn for $2k/mo. That’s more expensive than some of my friends that live elsewhere pay, but cars are expensive so the actual cost is offset.
  
  Personally I think the government should be subsidizing urban living. Suburbanization was a mistake. It’s so isolating. We should have more public housing.
  
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  - IMALlama@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    Suburbia hell checking in. We have a family of four and our 3 bed 1.75 bath (shower stall vs full bath) with mortgage, taxes, and insurance is less than $1,250/mo on a 30 year mortgage. It is modest in terms of square footage, but is well maintained and has a full basement and a green space for the kids to run. We tend to buy 2-3 year old cars and then drive them into the ground. The nice thing with the house is that our monthly payment is basically fixed until it’s paid off since tax increases are capped at 2% per year. The downside to a house is being on the hook for all the maintenance.
    
    We’re considering moving and I’m very curious to try to game out what the actual financials of moving somewhere like NYC or Philly would be. Salaries would likely go up some, rent would likely go up significantly, no cars, and the tradeoffs between owning and renting. Anything else you would point at?
    
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    jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
    I was always jealous of the kids that grew up in the city. They could do stuff. Where I lived, it wasn’t really safe to travel on foot because there were no sidewalks, and everything was far away. They’d tell me about how they went ice skating , or to a board game cafe, or to the beach, and I’d be like cool i was stuck inside alone. I don’t know if you can put a price tag on this exactly, but for me this would have been priceless.
    
    One of my former coworkers was in NJ, and he spent a lot of time driving his kid places. He missed out on social +/or work events and his kid missed out on autonomy. Also doesn’t have a clear price tag, but I think it’s valuable.
    
    It is also possible to buy a home in the city. Some people I know bought their apartment. They seemed happy with it, but we never discussed financial details.
    
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- ECB@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago
  It’s definitely true. There are so few places that are really walkable in the US and the demand is quite high… once you live that way, it’s hard to go back.
  
  We really need to build more walkable areas, but it’s difficult for a lot of (mostly-nonsensical) reasons.
  
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