Comments on: Shrinking http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/ The Sweet Release of Reason Tue, 22 May 2012 20:28:45 +0000 hourly 1 By: movers boston http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/#comment-16000 movers boston Thu, 09 Jul 2009 03:52:11 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=1521#comment-16000 I know that this kind of urban planner’s dream is a property owner’s nightmare. I realize that these cities are never going to be as big as they once were, and that good ideas about how to effectively shrink cities are in very short supply. This can be a problem even if the population isn’t shrinking, but is just moving around. I know that this kind of urban planner’s dream is a property owner’s nightmare. I realize that these cities are never going to be as big as they once were, and that good ideas about how to effectively shrink cities are in very short supply. This can be a problem even if the population isn’t shrinking, but is just moving around.

]]> By: Kai http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/#comment-15999 Kai Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:16:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=1521#comment-15999 Take a look (if you haven't already) at the website <a href="http://www.shrinkingcities.com" rel="nofollow">www.shrinkingcities.com</a> <br>There now is a whole sub-genre of architecture and city planning working on concepts of "rueckbauen" (~de-building) not just living and commercial space, but also infrastructure such as roads etc. Take a look (if you haven't already) at the website http://www.shrinkingcities.com
There now is a whole sub-genre of architecture and city planning working on concepts of “rueckbauen” (~de-building) not just living and commercial space, but also infrastructure such as roads etc.

]]> By: Robert Light http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/#comment-15998 Robert Light Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:02:28 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=1521#comment-15998 To expand on my previous comments re. KH's article, I think neither of you are making the precise distinction between nature and culture (convention), the former being necessary for understanding the latter. For instance, I can say I don't wear a powdered wig and stockings like George Washington, but I adhere to his view of natural right. Or take the phenomenon of men wearing earrings. While the initial turn to earrings some years ago appeared to coincide with a certain effeminacy of contemporary men, which it does to a large extent, there nevertheless are distinct sex roles evident in the now-established conventions for wearing earrings. For example, you rarely if ever see men wearing hoop earrings; there is generally a man's way to wear earrings and a woman's way. In other words, culture tends to follow nature, even though absurdities abound, toward both license and oppression, which are to be expected since culture as such is merely a manifestation of man's freedom. More generally, this topic reflects what Aristotle means when he says in the <i>Ethics</i> that natural right has the same power everywhere but is everywhere changeable. Nature is completed by freedom, but nevertheless guides freedom. KH and you are right to the extent that some conservatives (paleocons, by and large) adhere to cultural stasis, but you're perhaps insufficiently aware of the extent to which your embrace of cultural change is merely the obverse of that conservatism. To expand on my previous comments re. KH's article, I think neither of you are making the precise distinction between nature and culture (convention), the former being necessary for understanding the latter. For instance, I can say I don't wear a powdered wig and stockings like George Washington, but I adhere to his view of natural right. Or take the phenomenon of men wearing earrings. While the initial turn to earrings some years ago appeared to coincide with a certain effeminacy of contemporary men, which it does to a large extent, there nevertheless are distinct sex roles evident in the now-established conventions for wearing earrings. For example, you rarely if ever see men wearing hoop earrings; there is generally a man's way to wear earrings and a woman's way. In other words, culture tends to follow nature, even though absurdities abound, toward both license and oppression, which are to be expected since culture as such is merely a manifestation of man's freedom. More generally, this topic reflects what Aristotle means when he says in the Ethics that natural right has the same power everywhere but is everywhere changeable. Nature is completed by freedom, but nevertheless guides freedom. KH and you are right to the extent that some conservatives (paleocons, by and large) adhere to cultural stasis, but you're perhaps insufficiently aware of the extent to which your embrace of cultural change is merely the obverse of that conservatism.

]]> By: jfcote87 http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/#comment-15997 jfcote87 Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:57:21 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=1521#comment-15997 Youngstown, OH is trying to do the same thing. <a href="http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1907" rel="nofollow">http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?arti...</a> <br><br>Part of the town's justification is that shrinking the city also reduces the cost of providing public services (road maintenance, garbage, sewage, police and fire protection of abandoned buildings, etc.). <br><br>I can see a scenario where the municipality could offer the property owner a "choice" of either a buyout or higher fees/taxes. Youngstown, OH is trying to do the same thing. http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?arti…

Part of the town's justification is that shrinking the city also reduces the cost of providing public services (road maintenance, garbage, sewage, police and fire protection of abandoned buildings, etc.).

I can see a scenario where the municipality could offer the property owner a “choice” of either a buyout or higher fees/taxes.

]]> By: DWAnderson http://willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2008/06/30/shrinking/#comment-15996 DWAnderson Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:13:32 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=1521#comment-15996 This same problem is faced is by St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, almost all of which was flooded in connection with Katrina. When I was there in the Spring, a saw miles of tract homes that were only spottily inhabited. I was struck by the thought, that everyone might be better off if the whole thing were razed and people could start from scratch rather than being wedding to property divisions that no longer made sense. This same problem is faced is by St. Bernard Parish outside New Orleans, almost all of which was flooded in connection with Katrina. When I was there in the Spring, a saw miles of tract homes that were only spottily inhabited. I was struck by the thought, that everyone might be better off if the whole thing were razed and people could start from scratch rather than being wedding to property divisions that no longer made sense.

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