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@cornelius_blackfoot
Been reading this thread for a while, but got kinda bored by the really really really really really long, rebuttal posts that have been cropping up, not sure how much information is being spread by those who participate, and a lot of it is going over my head as the original posts that are being rebutted are damn long as well. Though the length of the posts (for clarity of argument I suppose) don't seem to be swaying anyone one or t'other, and just seem to add fuel to the discussion rather than clarifying anything, but...
anyway I'm a city boy, london born and raised, I love cities, I love urban environments, no flight to the suburbs/commuter towns/country for me once my kids are born. I know cities are planned, but my personal joy is the fact that london is rather ramshackle and not planned, well not initially, the village aspect of it. I read or heard somewhere the theory of rather than laying paths out over a piece of ground, you let people make their own way over it and then path the trails that they have already made, which from my point of view seems as good a way of laying out a city.
It seems that whenever we try to plan a city from the ground up, it generally fails in major aspects, through various theories on what is the best requirement for the city, the people that will live/live there, the distinct and seperate personalities/theories of those who are tasked with overseeing the project.
Personally I don't think we should be trying to create cities without cars, we should be creating cities which are more navigable, less zoned, greater green spaces, cities which are comfortable to live in, to raise families in, which have enough housing at affordable prices (either renting or buying), I don't think whole cities should be anti-car, large pedestrian areas are good/essential, but we don't have the climate for the alfresco living which seems to drive the development and planning of our european brethren, so how do we integrate all forms of transportation in a city to make it work?
also could someone explain to me the reasoning behind london having so much office space/blocks, which can't be turned into housing, flats/apartments etc. Seems to me like this would be an easy way to create some much needed housing in the center of london.