Urban planning focuses too much on moving people and ritually hating cars and not enough on moving goods breakbulk. If you had to design a major metro today from scratch, you’d probably start with a cargo underground with pallet-sized autonomous EVs and loading bays as base layer
-
-
I have a feeling high-walkability is partly a NIMBY dogwhistle against transience, mobility, renting. I’ve moved 20 times across 7 cities in the last 20 years. You feel pain of anti-cargo urban design most when moving, not when going shopping or getting a single big box delivered
Show this thread -
And note, I’m not a fan of cars personally. I barely drive anymore and would prefer to be carless (wife does almost all the driving). I walk everywhere. But I recognize that cars and light trucks are essential to urban life absent alternatives. Because people own larger goods.
Show this thread -
Serious question: how come the e-scooter companies haven’t explored a city-level streetworthy shopping cart idea? People do it anyway, not just homeless ones. Higher-tech stores put geofenced locks on their carts but the use case for moving goods up to ~1 mile is real.
Show this thread -
The shorter the median ownership period of a durable good, the more TCO estimates will be garbage due to very high variance delivery and transfer/disposal cost and illegible logistics snafu PTSD. Imagine getting a couch in/out of your home every day.
Show this thread -
Need a Coasean economics of lifestyles including a theory of transaction costs of ownership/rental of durable goods, both physical and digital
Show this thread -
New conversation -
-
-
Watching people comically struggle to get couches up 1930s triplexes is a Montréal summer past time.https://twitter.com/titocurtis/status/1124045771819683845?s=19 …
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.