Solarpunk Urbanism

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A community to discuss solarpunk and other new and alternative urbanisms that seek to break away from our currently ecologically destructive urbanisms.

Henri Lefebvre, The Right to the City — In brief, the right to the city is the right to the production of a city. The labor of a worker is the source of most of the value of a commodity that is expropriated by the owner. The worker, therefore, has a right to benefit from that value denied to them. In the same way, the urban citizen produces and reproduces the city through their own daily actions. However, the the city is expropriated from the urbanite by the rich and the state. The right to the city is therefore the right to appropriate the city by and for those who make and remake it.

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Fifty years ago, Switzerland was poised to become as car-dependent as anywhere in North America. Now it has the best transit system in the world. What’s the secret to this alpine nation’s success (www.theglobeandmail.com)

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This was a revelation. For just over $6,000 a year, the Swiss can travel anywhere, reliably, in comfort, and get where they’re going on time. (In neighbouring Austria, where the cost of living isn’t so high, the equivalent national rail pass costs just €1,100 – or $1,600.) In Canada and the United States, the average cost of car ownership – including payments, parking tickets, insurance, parking, and gas – is more than $12,000 a year. That’s a high price to pay for a system that delivers congestion, traffic deaths and injuries, air pollution – and, more often than not, gets us to work or school late. For half the price North Americans pay, the Swiss get reliable, anywhere-to-anywhere mobility.

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[–] Majorllama 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The secret is having a over a third of your country living within a few kilometers of your largest city and more than half the country live within a few kilometers of the capitol and largest city.

It is nearly the exact same size as Virginia and shares almost exactly the same population. They just have the majority of their citizens living in or around two cities that aren't that far from each other (hour and half drive or less than an hour by train between the two cities).

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

So what you're saying is that Virginia could have public transport on the level of Switzerland. I imagine it would even be cheaper since Virginia is much less mountainous.

Edit: even economically they are not radically different
Virginia: GDP $759.2B, per capita $86,747
Switzerland: GDP $942.2B, per capita $106,097

[–] Majorllama 5 points 1 day ago

Yeah but you would have to convince Virginians to live closer to one place instead of being scattered to the wind across their state lol.