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16 votes
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Even in a warmer Europe, wind and solar could still keep the lights on
5 votes -
You Don’t Need All That Complex/Expensive/Distracting Infrastructure
14 votes -
Pedestrian deaths reach highest level in decades, US report says
8 votes -
Inside the resistance movement opposing Daniel Ortega's Trans-Nicaragua Canal
6 votes -
Blackout at home: When the lights went out at Shea Stadium in 1977
4 votes -
Is Huawei a friend or foe in the battle for 5G dominance?
4 votes -
TPG stops its mobile network due to Huawei ban
3 votes -
"The hacker tourist ventures forth across the wide and wondrous meatspace of three continents, chronicling the laying of the longest wire on Earth." (Neal Stephenson, 1996)
5 votes -
The island nation of Tonga is facing a near-total internet blackout. The country’s only undersea cable was damaged during a storm.
12 votes -
What cities are getting wrong about public transportation
7 votes -
State official went roaming around Vermont to test cell coverage claims
4 votes -
Suburbs and car centric urban design is the worst mistake in modern history
Designing our countries to accommodate cars as much as possible has been one of the most destructive things to our health, environment, safety and social connectedness. The damage has spread so...
Designing our countries to accommodate cars as much as possible has been one of the most destructive things to our health, environment, safety and social connectedness. The damage has spread so far and deep that it has reached a crisis point in most developed cities in almost every country. The suburbs we live in are subjected to strict zoning laws baring any form of high density building and any form of mixed zoning. As a result our houses are spaced so far away from each other and from the essential services we need that unless you own a car you are blocked from having a normal life. The main streets full of independent stores and markets have all been killed by megamalls 30km away from where people live with carparks bigger than most park lands. All of this was caused by car usage pushing our societies further and further apart to the point where many people find it acceptable and normal to drive 40km each direction to work each day.
One of the more devastating effects of this urban sprawl is the supermarket has been moved so far away that most people avoid going as much as possible and limit it to a single trip every 1-2 weeks. Fresh food does not last 1-2 weeks which leaves people throwing out mountains of spoiled food that wasn't eaten in time as well as the move to processed foods packed full of preservatives. As well as a shift to people buying dinner from drive through takeaway franchises because their hour long commute has left them with little time to cook fresh and healthy foods.
Owning a car in many countries is seen as the only way to get a job. This locks the poor from ever regaining control of their life because the cost of owning and maintaining a car is higher than most of these people get in an entire year. Our city streets which should be places of vibrant liability have become loud, unsafe and toxic.
Elon and his electric cars solve none of these issues. Electric cars are not the way of the future. They don't even solve air pollution issues entirely because a large part of air pollution is brake pad fibres and tire wear which is proportional to the vehicles weight. And these Teslas are not light.
The only solution is reducing personal vehicle usage as much as possible in urban areas. Of course there will always be some people who will genuinely need vehicles such as in rural areas but there is simply no reason to have the average person drive to and from their office or retail job every day. Its wasteful and harmful in so many ways.
There needs to be a huge push to reclaim our cities and living spaces to bring back the liveability that we could have had. In my city some of the side streets were closed to cars and the change was incredible. Plants and seating filled the spots that would have once been a row of free parking. The streets are filled with the sounds of laughter instead of the roar of motors. The local pubs and cafes have benefited hugely. They didn't benefit at all from street side car parks that were always filled by people who have done 5 laps of the city looking for an empty park and do not intend to shop there.
What is everyone's opinion on this topic and what can we do about it?
64 votes -
How an emerging African megacity cut commutes by two hours a day
11 votes -
German cybersecurity chief: Anyone have any evidence of Huawei naughtiness? We won't be having a word with local firms until then
11 votes -
Scientists think Alabama's sewage problem has caused a tropical parasite. The state has done little about it.
6 votes -
What happened next? The survivors of the Genoa bridge collapse: ‘We’ve been abandoned, as if nothing happened’
9 votes -
Will Africa’s first high-speed train be a £1.5bn magic bullet for Morocco?
6 votes -
Panama the new flashpoint in China's growing presence in Latin America
7 votes -
Magnetic levitation: The return of transport's great 'what if?'
6 votes -
You can’t talk about right-wing populism without talking about urban planning
12 votes -
Italian Village Installs Speed Cameras, Records 58,000 Infractions In 2 Weeks
15 votes -
Why China is so good at building high-speed railways
10 votes -
There’s no plan B for port security
9 votes -
Britain's largest battery is actually a lake
11 votes -
We regulate the wrong things
13 votes -
Ban on Chinese mobile giants for 5G 'needed to protect critical Australian infrastructure'
6 votes -
The subway belongs to us
5 votes -
China to open mega-bridge and tunnel: Thirty-four miles across the water
8 votes -
Repair is as important as innovation: Maintenance lacks the glamour of innovation—and is harder to measure
11 votes -
Greece's geography problem
9 votes -
An optical illusion that resembles "looming googly eyes" scares some types of birds, and is being used to keep them away from an airport
12 votes -
Cincinnati joins the list of cities saying ‘no’ to parking minimums
11 votes -
Five rules for designing more walkable cities
10 votes -
Desire paths: The illicit trails that defy the urban planners
23 votes -
'You Just Don't Touch That Tap Water Unless Absolutely Necessary'
14 votes -
Everything you need to know about the massive crisis brewing in India’s financial markets
10 votes -
Two years since South Australia was plunged into darkness during a statewide blackout, new light has been shed on the cost of the Tesla battery.
5 votes -
What is the future of high speed travel?
9 votes -
'For me, this is paradise': Life in the Spanish city that banned cars
14 votes -
‘Would that all journeys were on foot’: writers on the joy of walking. Will Self, Fran Lebowitz, Helen Garner and others share their love letters to urban pedestrianism
6 votes -
The entire island of Hokkaido in Japan is without power after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake
17 votes -
Huawei banned from 5G mobile infrastructure rollout in Australia
10 votes -
Let’s rethink what a ‘bike lane’ is
10 votes -
How does the internet work?
9 votes -
Only you can prevent gross, smelly fatbergs from clogging up city sewers, says inspector
7 votes -
The engineer who designed the Genoa bridge that collapsed and killed forty-three people warned of its corrosion risk thirty-nine years ago
22 votes -
Kungsträdgården metro station: Stockholm's deepest subway station is also a stunning ecological wonder
9 votes -
Nope, those aren't mailboxes: Paris rolls out sidewalk urinals
17 votes -
Dugout Loop
3 votes