Has not the "lack of faith that whatever replaces it will be superior" usually been *correct,* for most American places remade in living memory? Isn't that a central tenet of urbanism now - that we mostly messed up with our postwar buildout?
"But there’s the far more common NIMBYism that is just an attachment to what exists, and a lack of faith that whatever replaces it will be superior."
You call this "NIMBYism." This is Jonathan V. Last's (JVL) definition of what it is to be a conservative. When JVL says he has no faith in an urbanist designed town, this is where he is coming from. Conservatives embrace the current reality, flawed as it may be. This is all they know. They don't have any faith in some imaginary improvements to the status quo, even if the improvement is a reversion to a previous time. They conserve the present, not the past.
You compared new urbanism to "eating your vegetables." Most people will not eat vegetables that were never in their diet! I think most people (40% to 45%) are conservative. They know what they know, and are not comfortable with changes to the status quo.
There is a Winston Churchill quote, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." Reframe the new urbanism movement to reflect the fact that our country has shaped our infrastructure development around the automobile for 75 years, or four generations. Most people can't imagine life without a car because they have never experienced it! Our cities, towns, homes, jobs, recreation, schools, laws, zoning codes: basically all our lives have been designed with the assumption that everyone can drive and everyone has a car. This means most people (JVL) cannot imagine life without a car, because a car is a necessary commodity for living in the USA. Some of us can imagine a life without cars, but it is almost impossible to live one.
I am almost 70 and have lived in a major US city suburb for over 40 years. I don't drive as well as I used to. I would like to walk to groceries, drug stores, a library, senior center, restaurants, and have access to a good bus route. These things might be possible in my suburb, but the zoning codes and a vocal conservative group have prevented our government from approving development plans for 14 years.
If the new urbanism movement can build and re-build some neighborhoods, towns, suburbs; and show that the concept works, maybe in another 75 years we will have more livable neighborhoods. Makes me sad that I will miss it.
50 miles away in Ramsey there used to be another eatery with an unleaning replica called Tower Restaurant. The NJ.com post says they were owned by different members of the same family but can't seem to find confirmation of that.
We used to have birthday dinners there!!!
An old favorite. Sorry to see that the tower is gone. Are the ship store, big bowling in and the steel "Indian teepee" still there?
Has not the "lack of faith that whatever replaces it will be superior" usually been *correct,* for most American places remade in living memory? Isn't that a central tenet of urbanism now - that we mostly messed up with our postwar buildout?
"But there’s the far more common NIMBYism that is just an attachment to what exists, and a lack of faith that whatever replaces it will be superior."
You call this "NIMBYism." This is Jonathan V. Last's (JVL) definition of what it is to be a conservative. When JVL says he has no faith in an urbanist designed town, this is where he is coming from. Conservatives embrace the current reality, flawed as it may be. This is all they know. They don't have any faith in some imaginary improvements to the status quo, even if the improvement is a reversion to a previous time. They conserve the present, not the past.
You compared new urbanism to "eating your vegetables." Most people will not eat vegetables that were never in their diet! I think most people (40% to 45%) are conservative. They know what they know, and are not comfortable with changes to the status quo.
There is a Winston Churchill quote, "We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us." Reframe the new urbanism movement to reflect the fact that our country has shaped our infrastructure development around the automobile for 75 years, or four generations. Most people can't imagine life without a car because they have never experienced it! Our cities, towns, homes, jobs, recreation, schools, laws, zoning codes: basically all our lives have been designed with the assumption that everyone can drive and everyone has a car. This means most people (JVL) cannot imagine life without a car, because a car is a necessary commodity for living in the USA. Some of us can imagine a life without cars, but it is almost impossible to live one.
I am almost 70 and have lived in a major US city suburb for over 40 years. I don't drive as well as I used to. I would like to walk to groceries, drug stores, a library, senior center, restaurants, and have access to a good bus route. These things might be possible in my suburb, but the zoning codes and a vocal conservative group have prevented our government from approving development plans for 14 years.
If the new urbanism movement can build and re-build some neighborhoods, towns, suburbs; and show that the concept works, maybe in another 75 years we will have more livable neighborhoods. Makes me sad that I will miss it.
50 miles away in Ramsey there used to be another eatery with an unleaning replica called Tower Restaurant. The NJ.com post says they were owned by different members of the same family but can't seem to find confirmation of that.
https://www.nj.com/news/j66j-2020/05/026845756a6788/vintage-photos-of-iconic-eateries-in-nj.html
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-herald-news-tower-of-pizza-to-tower/120401242/