These two images are typical rural sprawl compared with Central Manhattan, on the exact same scale. Now I'm not an expert on these matters, but something tells me pollution, traffic and logistical problems would be much, much worse is everyone had their own plot of land.

  • ssjmarx [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I think it's totally possible to accommodate both the people who want to live in the city and the people who want to live in rural areas, and even maintain freedom of movement between the two without breaking the environment. The problem is that the system we have that mediates that movement is capitalism, so most people don't live where they want, they live where they're stuck.

    Imagine a centrally planned economy dealing with people migrating over time by moving production, building new housing and services, retiring old urban centers when occupancy drops below a certain threshold, etc. You can't do that unless you have a system capable of thinking ahead an entire generation, while our current system can only plan ahead a single quarter.

    • 7bicycles [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      and even maintain freedom of movement between the two without breaking the environment.

      How?`I'm not saying you can't have, like, villages with a frequent train to the next city or whatever, the Swiss already do this but that's about a thousand times denser than farm sprawl

      • iridaniotter [she/her]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Isn't farm sprawl uniquely American? I thought in other countries rural society consists of villages and towns surrounded by farmland instead.

      • dallasw
        ·
        1 year ago

        deleted by creator

        • 7bicycles [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Where's the town in the left side of the picture here?

          You can redevelop towns along rail corridors and such, sure. Even getting to the train station here is gonna be a car ride for most people here, and the road network and assorted infrastructure to keep cars going, at which point, why not just take the car?

          • dallasw
            ·
            1 year ago

            deleted by creator

            • 7bicycles [he/him]
              ·
              2 years ago

              A 30 minute e-bike ride before you even get anywhere with the train doesn't really feel like retaining the freedom of movement here in a sense comparable to now.

              I mean it's what I'd propose, but then I think if you live out in the boonies somewhere this spread out you kind of have to just eat the fact that you're gonna take a lot longer to get anywhere.