As someone who doesn't drive, in many ways, I find the idea of vertical, compact, city living ideal. Before I went off to college "for real" I went through six weeks a sort of college training camp in the Bronx (a borough of NYC) for students with disabilities, so we could practice strategies of getting around campus, time management, and dealing with the bureaucracies of "Special Services" My dorm mate and I were the only ones staying on campus. It was noisy, sure. But it was also nice to be able to leave the campus with no other transportation than our wheelchairs, and go down to the local deli for a slice of justly famous, real New York cheesecake.
Really, the only reason I moved to the suburbs was because I needed a living space that was wheelchair accessible for me, who not only uses a wheelchair and needs grab bars and wider doors, but is also nearly a foot shorter than the people of "standard" height for whom all pre-adapted spaces are designed. That's workable, kinda, for occasional use, like restaurant bathrooms, and hotels, but I wouldn't want to live that way 24/7/365. If I'd been able to get a city apartment and customize it, I would have.
On the other hand, I need access to green, living things out my windows. I think, in my make-believe city, I have the roofs of all the high-rises engineered to support vegetable gardens and orchards, and the same for balconies to individual apartments. Some roofs would be reserved for meadow species and grassses -- basically figure out how to build a city with as much green space, as seen from the air, as asphalt. That would help migratory birds, and also allow everyone to "Eat local."
no subject
As someone who doesn't drive, in many ways, I find the idea of vertical, compact, city living ideal. Before I went off to college "for real" I went through six weeks a sort of college training camp in the Bronx (a borough of NYC) for students with disabilities, so we could practice strategies of getting around campus, time management, and dealing with the bureaucracies of "Special Services" My dorm mate and I were the only ones staying on campus. It was noisy, sure. But it was also nice to be able to leave the campus with no other transportation than our wheelchairs, and go down to the local deli for a slice of justly famous, real New York cheesecake.
Really, the only reason I moved to the suburbs was because I needed a living space that was wheelchair accessible for me, who not only uses a wheelchair and needs grab bars and wider doors, but is also nearly a foot shorter than the people of "standard" height for whom all pre-adapted spaces are designed. That's workable, kinda, for occasional use, like restaurant bathrooms, and hotels, but I wouldn't want to live that way 24/7/365. If I'd been able to get a city apartment and customize it, I would have.
On the other hand, I need access to green, living things out my windows. I think, in my make-believe city, I have the roofs of all the high-rises engineered to support vegetable gardens and orchards, and the same for balconies to individual apartments. Some roofs would be reserved for meadow species and grassses -- basically figure out how to build a city with as much green space, as seen from the air, as asphalt. That would help migratory birds, and also allow everyone to "Eat local."