[quote=briansd1]Chicago is the 2nd largest downtown in USA, after NYC. Philadelphia is 3rd.
The reason people fled the cities in the 50s-70s is because the interstate highways made it possible to move out to larger, newer cheaper houses with more modern conveniences.
From an urban planning perspective, we should make it easier to build newer larger houses with more bathrooms in the city.
Why are we protecting 1000sf termite-infested wood houses in North Park with one bathroom? That same lot could probably accomodate 5 to 7 3-story row houses of 1800sf each.
I’m sure the retired owners of those old houses would love to cash out and move to Florida, or Texas, or Temecula, if they could make a little fortune.[/quote]
Many people prefer those old, “termite infested” buildings to ugly row houses.
IMHO, it wasn’t interstate highways that drove suburban living, it was “white flight” that drove suburban living as the Civil Rights Movement led to legal changes in housing laws that banned racial discrimination in housing, etc.
Of course, the fact that more people had access to cars enabled them to move further out, but I don’t think that’s what prompted the movement; it just made it easier to do.
