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Author
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Topic: Your perfect neighbourhood
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DrConway
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 490
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posted 14 July 2002 03:12 PM
It would have broad sidewalks, well-paved and maintained, with canopies that could unfurl when it rains. Moving sidewalks would permit for rapid movement of those who might not be able to walk long distances, but who enjoy getting out once in a while.Between the sidewalks and the streets would be plenty of greenery - trees, shrubs, bushes, that sort of thing. It would be high enough to partially buffer the sound of automobiles passing by. (and all that extra greenery would help with the carbon dioxide problem.  ) Streets would be generally well-lit, with call boxes at every intersection in case of emergency - be it fire, ambulance, or police. Perhaps kiosks randomly spread throughout the city where one can make phone calls, get e-mail, check up on a pager, et cetera.  Also mailboxes at alternating intersections outside of downtown and inside downtown, at every intersection.  Apartments would all have good ventilation to ensure good airflow and to minimize heat build-up in any one location.
From: You shall not side with the great against the powerless. | Registered: May 2001
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anna_c
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2845
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posted 27 July 2002 06:20 PM
interesting question, too bad there have not been more contributions! i'd be interested to hear others' thoughts. i have been thinking about this and related topics lately, i'm not sure why. perhaps it is because, in a microcosmic sense, i am trying to effect the kind of changes that would, with a lot of work and cooperation result in something like my ideal community. my perfect neighbourhood would be urban, but not in the sense generally connoted by that word. it would be located in a fairly temperate zone, where it would not get colder than, say zero degrees celsius, where the seasons were of roughly equal length, and there was a "healthy" level of precipitation. the neighbourhood would be nearly self-sustaining: it would have community gardens, community kitchens, cottage-industries, libraries, gathering places, athletic centres, a film society, schools, medical clinics, etc. it would also be self-regulating, and, on the basis of free-association, follow consensus decision-making procedures. it would have a free bike program. driving cars would be very restricted. there would be outdoor markets and street theatre groups and musicians. there would be progressive labour laws, and a social structure such that no one was unsupported or left in need. no women would ever get raped or otherwise assaulted; walking outside after dark would be taken for granted. all facilities would be public. there would be public debates, poetry slams, art galleries, music festivals. etc. etc.
From: montreal | Registered: Jul 2002
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 29 July 2002 01:47 PM
I think my neighborhood is about as close to perfect as you can get in real life... Within blocks of grocery store, smaller shops for art, jewellery, butcher, baker, fish, organic grocery, hardware (an old mom and pop operation), books, vintage/second-hand clothes, coffee shops, a couple of very good restaurants, ice cream/candy store. Big old trees, lots of playgrounds and green space, older houses, walk-up apartments. Some subsidized housing. We have an arts festival that goes for a whole week every spring. 15 minute walk from downtown. People walk places, say hello, get to know each other. More racial diversity (and economic diversity) than the rest of the city. Very active community association.We also have a fair sized yard and a biggish old house, just the sort I've always wanted to live in, and affordable. I really love my neighborhood. (Edited twice for spelling and grammer... I have a stuffy head today, not as swift as usual...)
[ July 29, 2002: Message edited by: Zoot Capri ] [ July 29, 2002: Message edited by: Zoot Capri ]
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478
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posted 29 July 2002 05:33 PM
Wwwwweeeeelllll ... skdadl will just stroll past those two ... (Although, Spring Chicken, I agree: my ideal community would have no private internal combustion engines, anyway ... maybe a few taxis ... enough taxis, shall we say?) I live in another of those neighbourhoods that is about as good as things get under the current dispensation. Forgive me for being unable to forget the current dispensation. If I were younger and sane, I would appreciate my good fortune. As it is, I find myself fantasizing more and more about ideal villages, bucolic settings that would have bored me silly until the last few years. I have imagined a lively central village, with little compounds of three or four houses set closely together, each compound about a mile or so from the centre. Each li'l group of houses would be ulta-electronically connected, for safety, help, easy communication -- but for privacy as well. And each would be surrounded by wilderness. I still haven't worked out garbage problems. God, but garbage is a curse, especially in this climate. I'm building up to an essay on maggots.
From: gone | Registered: May 2001
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nonsuch
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1402
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posted 29 July 2002 05:45 PM
I like the idea of hansom cabs and horse-drawn trolleys. Horses don't mind working, as long as they're fed and treated well, with a nice communal meadow for their off time. (Oh yeah, they'll also eat the vegetable scraps.)Just to complete the nostalgia-fit, i want a pot-bellied stove in the hardware store, to sit around, whittle and talk politics in winter. And a fountain in the central square for the same purpose in summer. Let's put a moat around the whole village and not have any cars. The Walfart and Home Despot will starve to death if nobody can - or needs to - get to them. [ July 29, 2002: Message edited by: nonesuch ]
From: coming and going | Registered: Sep 2001
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Timebandit
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 1448
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posted 29 July 2002 06:07 PM
quote:
Say, Zoot, I just read recently that Regina is the per capita murder capital of Canada. I read it and thought, "Oh, I have to rib Zoot about this"
Yeah, yeah, yeah... Wondered how long it would take before somebody brought it up...  Funny thing is, I've always taken for granted my safety walking after dark. There are very few places here I feel nervous about going. I find it really hard to reconcile this being a "murder capital", when really, there are only two or three a year, generally. I guess size matters, eh? Especially on that old per capita business. The big problem, not just in Regina, but in the whole province, is that the needs of the aboriginal population haven't been adequately addressed. Most of the murder victims are aboriginal people and usually are killed by acquaintances. Our provincial justice minister made a statement to that effect after the latest stats came out, and I said to myself, "Well, no duh!!" Like this is new or something...  Anyway, I've found Regina a pretty safe place, I even used to go jogging 'round the neighborhood here at 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Have always walked places at night, rarely have I been hassled.
From: Urban prairie. | Registered: Sep 2001
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Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560
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posted 29 July 2002 10:01 PM
quote:
(Although, Spring Chicken, I agree: my ideal community would have no private internal combustion engines, anyway ... maybe a few taxis ... enough taxis, shall we say?)
Just curious, Skdadl, I've been wondering this for a while because you mention this occasionally. How is it any more environmentally friendly to take a taxi than to take a car? You're still using an individual car to run your errand - I don't see how it would matter whether you take your own car to the grocery store or you take someone else's car. The bus I can see, because one bus replaces, what, 30 cars? But one taxi only replaces one car.
From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001
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dale cooper
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2946
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posted 08 August 2002 02:27 AM
Zoot, I live in the same neighbourhood as you, but I'm right on the main street. Get rid of motorcycles and people gunning their engines 24/7 and it may be utopia.Although I belive all city planning should be done with the population in mind. Regina is built in a BAD location, due to politics at the time of its founding. Place it 100 kms in any direction so that the land is beautiful and not owned by the founding fathers and it's a great city. Then clean the river.
From: Another place | Registered: Aug 2002
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