When you argue for housing reform to legalize denser development in our cities, you quickly learn that some people hate density. Like, really hate density, with visceral disgust and contempt for any development pattern that involves buildings being tall or close together.
It’s interesting that there’s a disconnect between density and cost of living. Not only the roof above your head, but the availability and density of services, from healthcare to recreation, from work to food, from coffee to plumbers, from walkability to public transport.
The denser the living conditions, the more people live within a viability catchment, the more opportunities for alternatives and competition.
“I only have one plumber who can fix my blocked toilet?” in a rural setting, vs. “Which plumber should I use today?” in a high density area.
I moved from a small town to a large city and the cost of goods and services is almost doubled what it still is in the town I moved out of. There is more selection, sure; but it sure as hell doesn’t seem competitive when the 2 plumbers in the small town are still more affordable than any of the hundred or so in the city.
As an actual handyman, I had to charge city centers much more. Road “calming” has created so much congestion I simply can’t reach as many customers I used to. It started getting absurd; I had the business, but I couldn’t reach the customers. I tried scheduling days for different sections, but often I’m called for an emergency.
I stopped that business last year. I felt bad charging so much, customers had sticker shock, and nobody in city traffic planning would listen. It was thankless.
This is a traffic engineering problem, not a housing density problem
Haha well, yeah. You are very much correct. But a problem exacerbated by policies in high density areas.
My city is squeezing out private vehicles and giving priority to public transportation; especially downtown. You know, doing a lot of what you guys in this community advocate. A main road into the city installed 2 more signals and closed an adjacent road to through traffic. I have spent 4 light cycles to cross an intersection because of backups and average 3mph.
Some people here will see this as a win, but that was my business to support my family; now it is not. I simply can’t bring tools and supplies on a bus. This is why service is expensive.