Travel observations and new developments of other cities and countries

[chc3]

Seattle: South Lake Union neighborhood with tram.

[Binbin98]

More of Perth Australia. Was a lovely city and very well designed. 

[markhollin]

Boston:

[chc3]

Morning walk in steady rain. Found an excellent coffee place with a view of the Space Needle that roasts its own beans. The last shots are of Lake Union with the U Dub (U of W) skyline in the distance.

[markhollin]

London:

[KJHburg]

Greetings from the HQ of Urbanplanet.org which was founded in Charlotte and still based here.  Both these shots were taken yesterday the drone by my friend.  Glad to see our server migration went well and nothing seems lost.  

[markhollin]

Minsk, Belarus:

[markhollin]

Chicago with frozen Lake Michigan:

[Altoic]

On 1/16/2024 at 10:22 AM, Luvemtall said:

It’s not just about building codes, South Florida has the stack against it, a game of roulette and the odds are not in its favor. I lived there during Andrew when the naysayers were having parties on the beach, they soon learned the fury of nature. Roads ripped right out of the ground, steel twisted into pretzels and hardly a building was built over 20 stories then . And the population was not no where like today, they can never evacuate that many people now. Like mentioned above, there’s always going to be people who just don’t get it or want to , everything is a joke or a conspiracy theory. Until the worst happens, then they are the first complaining why wasn’t something done to prevent it. 

Not to join in this conversation late, but Andrew is what prompted South Florida hurricane codes to be the strictest in the U.S. Hurricane Irma struck downtown Miami with 100 mph wind gusts. Cranes snapped and swung but even under construction towers were intact.

I think a lot of people paint South Florida as this incoming doomsday that'll happen in 5 years, but it's not. It will be a slow fight against the tides and major infrastructure change will take place over the next 20 years.

[Luvemtall]

7 hours ago, Altoic said:

Not to join in this conversation late, but Andrew is what prompted South Florida hurricane codes to be the strictest in the U.S. Hurricane Irma struck downtown Miami with 100 mph wind gusts. Cranes snapped and swung but even under construction towers were intact.

I think a lot of people paint South Florida as this incoming doomsday that'll happen in 5 years, but it's not. It will be a slow fight against the tides and major infrastructure change will take place over the next 20 years.

I respect your opinion just as I respect everyone else’s, but I believe you are speaking within the same mindset as most other people do in regards to the dire situation transforming in South Florida. It’s not just hurricanes , but a host of many factors. And Irma’s impact on Miami was minimal at 100 mph winds. It would be a different scenario if it was 200+ mph cat5 , which would have a much larger storm surge resulting in massive waves on top of massive wind. There’s all to many naysayers and nonbelievers, do to the greed of the rich and powerful developers and government officials lining their pockets telling lies about how much the codes have been changed yada, yada. Plus the bigger issues are the fact that the ocean level is rapidly rising and the risk of the area being under water in 20-30 years is becoming more clear. Plus with all the population growth clean usable drinking water will soon run out, the underlying Florida Aquifer is taking a beating and someday will cave and cause massive issues. So think about the area as you want, I’m glad I’m out of there you can have it ! Even all the top earth scientists agree, that sandbar know as Florida has its days numbered.

[MLBrumby]

Fifteen years of Calgary! Composite Credit:  LivinAWestLife via Reddit.com

2008 Photo Credit: Munna82 via Flickr.com 

2023 Photo Credit: KevinCapps (SurrealPlaces) via Flickr.com

 

 

 

 

[Binbin98]

Sydney Australia. My cousin lives here and I’m staying with her in the city. It’s an incredibly lovely and liveable place.

[markhollin]

Oakland, California's renderings for 1431 Franklin, St. at  40 stories, 413', 381 units, internal garage (courtesy of YIMBy San Fran):

[Luvemtall]

^^with all the negative vibes coming out of the Bay Area recently, it’s good to see that some folks are still investing and building. It’s been a rough rocky road for many communities for a while now, hopefully we see a resurgence of positive growth and energy for all our communities.

[markhollin]

Montevideo, Uraguay:

[markhollin]

Baltimore Amtrak news:

[nashville born]

Sticking in the Northeast for a second, a 15-story 1,111 complex is under construction in Philly.  I'm only posting it because it's so massive.  Photos courtesy of Philly YIMBY.

[Luvemtall]

On 2/11/2024 at 1:11 AM, markhollin said:

Baltimore Amtrak news:

Just a little tidbit, as mentioned above over 12 million NEC riders!! Being born and raised in Connecticut, this kinda transit was just an everyday experience, and I’m sure Bos2Nash knows what I’m talking about. Makes me wonder why isn’t there a more robust Southeast Corridor? And why does it seem that so many here are against a system like this? Is it just easier to be a hater and always say no , to things you don’t understand or have knowledge about then to make the time to open your minds and learn from others? Or is it just a bunch of political lawmakers, who spend their time trying to stick it to their counterparts instead of actually trying to make a difference to their constituents lives? Whatever it is , it’s just hard for me to understand why there’s such a lack of rail connection between the Southern States, try it you’ll like it!

[markhollin]

30 minutes ago, Luvemtall said:

Just a little tidbit, as mentioned above over 12 million NEC riders!! Being born and raised in Connecticut, this kinda transit was just an everyday experience, and I’m sure Bos2Nash knows what I’m talking about. Makes me wonder why isn’t there a more robust Southeast Corridor? And why does it seem that so many here are against a system like this? Is it just easier to be a hater and always say no , to things you don’t understand or have knowledge about then to make the time to open your minds and learn from others? Or is it just a bunch of political lawmakers, who spend their time trying to stick it to their counterparts instead of actually trying to make a difference to their constituents lives? Whatever it is , it’s just hard for me to understand why there’s such a lack of rail connection between the Southern States, try it you’ll like it!

My take on it is that the South was much more of an agricultural economy and there simply weren't many large cities, and few were in close proximity to each other.  All of these characteristics were the opposite of the development of the Northeast since the introduction of rail in the mid 1800s.  Where there was higher density that was growing in the late 1800s (Northeast and Chicago in particular), passenger rail became a part of the solution before automobiles were invented.   But even large industrial cities like Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, and Kansas City never really developed localized passenger rail (other than streetcars), because there wasn't the critical mass or needed connectivity to nearby metros since  they were usually separated by hundreds of miles.  And western cities like LA, San Fran, San Diego, etc. have had a similar difficulty in trying to bring rail into the people-moving picture because the personal car came into prominence during the rise of those cities. 

Granted, the South has seen marked population growth in its cities over the past 50 years, but the bulk of its connectivity had come via the automobile and trucking and remains that way even now. It is just baked pretty deeply into the cake at this point.  Not saying it could never change...it's simply not an apples to apples comparison with the history of the Northeast. 

[Luvemtall]

Good analysis Mark, didn’t think of it in that context. Question still remains as to why now so many are still opposed to bringing some form of rail infrastructure into service. I can understand the aforementioned rise of the automobile, during the timeframe as mentioned. But today the growth of the Southeastern States and the rising costs of automobile ownership, along with seemingly unlimited need for road infrastructure should be a major factor in a push toward some degree of mass transit and a substantial rail network. And I’m not just suggesting the old fashioned rail system be the best option, any new options floating around out there are all on the table for discussion.

[chc3]

20 hours ago, markhollin said:

My take on it is that the South was much more of an agricultural economy and there simply weren't many large cities, and few were in close proximity to each other. 

Great points. It’s also interesting to consider that 100 years ago New Orleans and Memphis were, respectively, the two largest cities in the South. Miami, Atlanta, Dallas and Houston were only medium-sized cities.

https://www.infoplease.com/us/cities/population-20-largest-us-cities-1900-2012

[markhollin]

San Francisco:

[PruneTracy]

re: the NEC. Washington, DC to NYC is approximately 225 miles and NYC to Boston is approximately 230 miles. These are roughly analogous to the distances between Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, but the NEC has about ten times the population surrounding the corridor. There are not many other corridors in the US, much less the Southeast, which approach this population density.

[markhollin]

Colorado Springs, CO:
 

 

[markhollin]

Hobart, Australia: