A Chicken Farmer Explains 15 Minute Cities

GroupDIY Audio Forum

Help Support GroupDIY Audio Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Perfection is having good neighbors, but also enough property and/or trees that you can't see their houses. Urban life is for ants. IMO.
I agree, maybe you missed the sarcasm. But I don't see how that negates trying to improve on the state of many cities.

Yes, after all, "real" communism hasn't been tried yet. [/sarcasm]
What does communism have to do with more pedestrian friendly city planning? Rent free.
 
I agree. But I don't see how that negates trying to improve on the state of many cities.
I didn't miss the sarcasm. Having spent 27 years living in and/or commuting into Silicon Valley I have some experience with the problems. People piled on top of each other and crammed cheek to jowl doesn't leave much room for improvement. It's never going to be "good" much less great. And now the city dwellers want their energy demands to be met by converting rural spaces into ugly wind and solar farms. Not an improvement.

What does communism have to do with more pedestrian friendly city planning? Rent free.
 
No, that was a double entendre you didn't get. You still didn't explain what a city planning aligned with walkability over cars has to do with communism.
over the top central planning is a hallmark of communism. In the US, cities could use a little more law and order.
==
I saw a video clip today of one city using mental health workers communicating via zoom calls to calm down unstable people on the street during police stops. The police get the unstable person to talk with the mental health worker on a tablet computer terminal. According to the video clip it can work to stabilize upset people, and deescalate potentially violent situations.

It appears that we need to expand mental health services. What most cities are doing now doesn't seem to be working.

JR
 
Ive seen quite a few people over the years with addiction issues/underlying trauma , they ended up given first anti depressants , then heavier and heavier phyciatric medecines , to the point they were just a shell or their former selves. The mental health system hasnt the manpower to adress the underlying issues in any meaningfull way , instead the just pill them up and off they go down the street like energiser bunnies . You see many these days existing in a state of total detachment from reality .
For the longest time here in Ireland the 'mental health' system was used to marginalise and undermine the credibillity of people who suffered emotional , physical and sexual abuse .
I know quite a few people whos lives were destroyed by these dangerous meds and both family and the medical system actively participating in the cover up . Unsurprisingly the profits of the makers of these mind altering substances skyrocketed during covid .

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9245333/
 
over the top central planning is a hallmark of communism. In the US, cities could use a little more law and order.
If you are referring to the tall buildings in the pictures Volker posted, the style of architecture has nothing to do with communism. It happens that it was also adopted by communist countries.

Here we call them tower blocks. Of course total abomination. Beautiful and healthier buildings were demolished to make way for them. Criminal. Some city planners have a lot to answer. Lucky to them that most of them are dead now.

I`d take what AnalogPackrat posted any time.
 
The tenets that all these people promoting 15 minute cities and "you'll own nothing and be happy" are entirely predicated on communism.
Paris, Amsterdam, Oslo, Barcelona, Basel, famous hotspots of communism in the 21st century.

over the top central planning is a hallmark of communism. In the US, cities could use a little more law and order.
Zoning laws, central planning and guidelines have always been there for any city. Rethinking old concepts and focussing on a less car-centric environment doesn't make this all of a sudden communist.
 
over the top central planning is a hallmark of communism.
I'd state it much more generally: central planning is the hallmark of authoritarian/collectivist societies. Communism is but one example. The NAZIs did a lot of it. FDR moved the US fed gov that direction in significant ways.

In the US, cities could use a little more law and order.
Civil societies require some form of this. The anonymity provided by large cities makes it both more difficult to implement and enables the bad behavior. It is an unhealthy environment for many people (and I'm not talking about air quality).
 
Last edited:
If you are referring to the tall buildings in the pictures Volker posted, the style of architecture has nothing to do with communism. It happens that it was also adopted by communist countries.
I think he was simply referring to the implications of re-imagining cities (to be pedestrian friendly or whatever some "authority" decides is best for "everyone").

Here we call them tower blocks. Of course total abomination. Beautiful and healthier buildings were demolished to make way for them. Criminal. Some city planners have a lot to answer. Lucky to them that most of them are dead now.
Yes, the loss of anything artistic in 99% of large scale architecture in the past 75 years is sad. And the skill of the builders (stonemasons, etc.) is apparent in these old edifices. The worst examples of bland, repetitive, concrete brutalism I've personally seen were in South Korean cities. But the Santa Cruz County offices and court buildings in Santa Cruz, California are right up there in the dehumanized structure awards.

I`d take what AnalogPackrat posted any time.
I've always been a country boy. While I enjoy good architecture, none of it tops a natural scene.
 
I've been living in a city where you have to drive literally everywhere for the last 7 years. I'm so annoyed and over it, I just bought a condo in my hometown Chicago and I'm never looking back. If I do move somewhere again, it will be somewhere I can walk or bike to all my destinations. Cars are for the birds. My uncle died on the highway just last December driving. Green space is great too! But It's personally just not my way of life. Unless of course I could walk or bike to a downtown area and have an artist community, a pub, a cafe, a library, etc. If that's communist, then we need more lol. Besides, ideal communist would provide a social safety net that could help people that are in need all over the city. We simply aren't chickens.
 
I've been living in a city where you have to drive literally everywhere for the last 7 years. I'm so annoyed and over it, I just bought a condo in my hometown Chicago and I'm never looking back. If I do move somewhere again, it will be somewhere I can walk or bike to all my destinations. Cars are for the birds. My uncle died on the highway just last December driving. Green space is great too! But It's personally just not my way of life. Unless of course I could walk or bike to a downtown area and have an artist community, a pub, a cafe, a library, etc. If that's communist, then we need more lol. Besides, ideal communist would provide a social safety net that could help people that are in need all over the city. We simply aren't chickens.
Communism promises a lot but delivers very little. Perhaps study some more history before embracing that.

JR
 
Communism promises a lot but delivers very little. Perhaps study some more history before embracing that.

JR
When was there communism when they wasn't embargoes, U.S. backed coups, totalitarian rule that backed the communist style economy (often to protect it from outside aggression, etc? Communism at it's core threatens the ruling class of all countries all over the world and they're the ruling class for a reason, they're not going to let that stand. At this point in history we've never seen true communism at a large scale and only little glimpses of it. I've studied lots of history, and lots of economics in college.
Let's not forget that communism and democracy can exist side by side and is an economic ideology, like capitalism.
 
Last edited:
When was there communism when they wasn't embargoes, U.S. backed coups, totalitarian rule that backed the communist style economy (often to protect it from outside aggression, etc? Communism at it's core threatens the ruling class of all countries all over the world and they're the ruling class for a reason, they're not going to let that stand. At this point in history we've never seen true communism at a large scale and only little glimpses of it. I've studied lots of history, and lots of economics in college.
I'm guessing thats what you were taught in college (USA and capitalism bad)? History is littered with failed communist nations.

The PRC in China is the most successful attempt yet at communism. Communism is not very accommodating of non-Han minorities (like Uyghurs and about 50 other groups). China is growing stronger and on the march, militarizing the south China sea, as they openly eye taking over Taiwan. If you are that thirsty for communism you could probably move to china, but watch out you might be considered a minority there. ;)

JR
 
I can't do this with you. If we are in the same place and you want to have a beer over it sometime, I'm game. But it's taxing to my mental health to sit on here and take unnecessary little snarky comments.
But I would like to recommend to you the Red Menace podcast. It's on spotify and here:
https://redmenace.libsyn.com/
 
And now the city dwellers want their energy demands to be met by converting rural spaces into ugly wind and solar farms.
There is plenty of city space to be used for solar panels. Rooftops, facades, parking lots etc.

Also, a lot of rural space can be found in many countries that is uninhabited rocks and desert.

Solar power has become the cheapest form of energy availible. Plenty of low hanging fruit to harvest. Could be a great way to earn money or at least ease the costs of living with a little longer term thinking for rural dwellers.

A lot of things around energy are patently absurd, unfortunately. Even in places where renewables are a no brainer. For instance, the island of Lanzarote is mostly desert, the sun is shining and lot's of wind is blowing almost every day all year round. A comparably small investment would be necessary to get all energy from renewables, permanently. Instead, every day oil vessels land on the island, because the overwhelming portion of energy is produced from burning fossible fuels. And despite all the sunshine tap water is created from brine with that energy derived from burning oil...
 
I can't do this with you. If we are in the same place and you want to have a beer over it sometime, I'm game. But it's taxing to my mental health to sit on here and take unnecessary little snarky comments.
But I would like to recommend to you the Red Menace podcast. It's on spotify and here:
sorry, take care and be well...

JR
 
Back
Top