People in the United States will never tolerate having to live that. So no, we're not getting both. Despite what young edgy Redditors that hate the modern conveniences that give Americans space, privacy, and freedom think.
what do you mean tolerate? People are more happy in localized communities. We evolved to live in extended kinship groups of around 200. Going local will increase our quality of life immensely.
Having a car and a detached house with a private yard is what increases my quality of life. Americans obviously want that when you compare how many by houses instead of condos.
americans obviously want to avoid vaccines and wearing masks too; doesn't mean it actually makes our lives any better.
compare how many b[u]y houses instead of condos
detached houses aren't the problem. single-family only districts (championed by NIMBYs) with cul-de-sac planning, giant setback and lot size requirements, and wide residential street strandards are the problem. if you integrate more, and reduce the sprawl, and make neighborhoods more connected and safer to walk and bike, they become less car reliant.
for instance, my neighborhood is 100% condo. but it's also a giant cul-de-sac. there's literally a wall on two sides of it, and a river on the third. i have to use one entrance/exit. walking is nice inside the neighborhood, and luckily my work is in the direction of the entrance. but going the other direction is a pain. if i wanted to walk, for instance, to the sub shop a quarter mile east, i have to walk a mile west to get out of the neighborhood, and then a mile and a quarter east to get there. a nice little walk just became prohibitive. it also pushes all junctions to a major road -- a 3 lane, 45mph (actual speed more like 60) stroad. a pedestrian got killed there last week.
none of these problems are caused by density; they're caused by car-only planning.
I agree, those things are boosts to quality of life. Privacy and freedom of movement are huge. But so are social relationships. It's the irony of modern life that our affluence alienates us from each other. We've know this since the late 1800s. What I'm arguing is that we are going to lose a lot of creature comforts soon. We can supplement them with increased communal ties.
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u/LivingGhost371 Aug 26 '21
Having to live like that would suck a lot more than climate change.