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Re: GBlist: affordable housing?

I have to disagree with the social rigidity statement. If anything I find
the american way of life to be much more rigid. In Europe you can choose
country, town, or city life, each very different, but that is not as true
in America.

There certainly are plenty of people who live "in the boonies" in Germany
and the rest of Europe (not nearly as many as in America of course).

What made life in Dublin so nice (without a car) is that the city is
composed of subcities that were (sometime in Dublin's 1000+ year history)
towns that got swallowed up by the ever-expanding city. But each of them
still maintains it's center of shops, church, and pubs, surrounded by
housing. In most parts of the city you are within easy walking distance of
whatever you might need. This kind of organization extends way out into the
suburbs of Dublin, though the towns do get further apart. Probably 80% or
more of the population of over 1 million is in easy walking distance to
most of what you need to get by.

It is true also that a community that spends a lot of time walking around
is a safer and more interesting community. People actually come in contact
with each other when doing their chores instead of being isolated (and
hostile) in an auto.

One other relavant thing about Dublin (and many other European cities - all
the pre-Roman ones I guess) is that the streets twist and turn about like a
bucket of snakes. It makes driving a nightmare but walking a real pleasure!
Unfortunately I don't think any city's intentionally going to opt for this
inconvenience to it's businesses and drivers. Oh well!

----------
> From: Cindy/Mike Shea <mcshea1@gte.net>
> To: Chris & Ruth Koehn <crkoehn@mailbag.com>
> Cc: GB List <greenbuilding@crest.org>
> Subject: Re: GBlist: affordable housing? 
> Date: Thursday, August 28, 1997 1:24 PM
> 
> Chris,
> 
> I, too, lived in Germany and the Netherlands for five years and really 
> appreciate your sentiments.  People there value craftsmanship, quality 
> design, and low-cost, minimal maintenance.  They also value community 
> and would rarely dream -- or be able to afford -- building in the 
> boonies.  Functional towns and structures are the norm, not the 
> exception.  However, I fear Americans would never accept the costs and 
> social rigidity that are also part of the European approach.  The 
> question is, are we smart enough to learn from others' examples instead 
> of insisting that we already have the best.
> 
> Cindy Pollock Shea
> Promoting Sustainable Development
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