Quote:
Originally Posted by dtnphx
Maybe so, still row houses in major urban centers have no more density than this. For Phoenix, it's functional.
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Actually the exact opposite is true.
Don't look at height as a direct proxy for density. Here we currently have to build TALLER to create the SAME density as other urban centers b/c ppl here still demand larger footprints. So this is LESS dense than what you see in similar buildings in other urban centers.
And in Phoenix that's NOT functional because until we achieve a critical mass of people living urban car-free lifestyles, we are going to have a much higher car-ownership rate than other urban centers. What does that mean? It means that even if we have the same density as some other place, we will have less pedestrian activity, which is a detriment to a healthy downtown. It also means that the people that live in our downtown will patron businesses in a wider geographic range than in other urban centers, providing less support for our downtown businesses.
So to achieve comparable urban health & vibrancy as other city centers, we have to start thinking taller and denser than we currently are. I struggle to understand the purely subjective opposition to such developments when there are objective reasons to support and encourage them.