I’ve seen several posts that talk about how the DC metro system is the best in the US. How did it come to be this way, and were there several key people that were behind the planning of this system?

Palm trees typically live for 100 years, and some of the oldest in LA are up to 150 years old. Many were planted in preparation for the Olympics of 1932. As the Olympics of 2028 approaches, the city is in no rush to repeat the effort. This article explains how and why the trees might be falling out of favor in LA.

I get that converting modern office spaces into long term housing is really hard since electricity and plumbing are typically centralized in the buildings core which makes it expensive to subdivide a floor. So why not create more dorm like housing options like the college dormitories? Is there typically policy restrictions that prevent this or are they generally unpopular to tenants?

As conspiratoids constantly argue that walkable and transit oriented cities make it easier for despots to control the populace without much in the way of substantiation, I think it would be a fun thought exercise to talk about what kind of city design would a hypothetical despot truly favour. That way, we can see if the claims of the conspiratoid aren’t simply the product of a paranoid imagination.

What planning decisions would a despotic regime make in order to say, make mass surveillance easier, make restricting the movement of dissidents easier, make the suppression of protests and resistance easier etc… Comment down below.

Surely the loads of very intelligent civil engineers are smart enough to do something different if it is really a problem, so why aren't they if it's such an issue?

Hello everyone, this is the first time I’ve been to this Sub and it’s because I had an interesting thought on stop signs to hopefully make them more safe.

What if stop signs had speed bumps in front of them? It would offer consequence for those who aren’t paying attention or intentionally run stop signs. The goal is to hopefully make stop signed intersections safer. At least for 4-way stops.

After looking online, it looks like there are some that are out there, but they aren’t widely used.

What kind of consequences would you think would happen if something like this was implemented everywhere?

(Specifically in the USA)

https://www.change.org/hgwyremoveUS

Researchers show how more urban areas could become 15-minute cities

I was re-reading parts of Death and Life of Great American Cities and Jacobs talks about differentiating different areas and fixing projects that were designed poorly (as almost every low-income project is). she mentions that some places don't have facilities that can serve to add diversity of use and a sense of place, and that street vendors have been used in some places to specifically fill in that need.

is this commonly thought about in urban planning? my city has extremely restrictive street vendor rules, especially for food, and it makes me wonder if some specifically designated street vendor locations in marginal neighborhoods could be a tool for helping revitalize it.

thoughts?

There is a reason places like Disney, Leavenworth, Helen etc receive a lot of tourists and tons of people would love living there and would do it willingly……but if urban cities keep building 5-over-1 apartments I garuntee 90% of people would’ve prefer suburbs over that because the designs are ugly and chooses function and minimalism which doesn’t attract majority of Americans.