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Eco-cities
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Anybody else on here interested in eco-cities?
I just ... er, borrowed a New Scientist mag from the doctor's and it had a big article on them. Got a few books on the subject, too.
Eco-cities favour public transportation, walking and cycling over car use, offer much easier access to green spaces, and are generally built to be much more environmentally friendly.
And they DON'T have to be high rise. 3 stories is more than enough.
Basically, they look far cooler places to live than our current car dominated cities. And are much better for the environment.
I want to live in one now. Anyone else?
I just ... er, borrowed a New Scientist mag from the doctor's and it had a big article on them. Got a few books on the subject, too.
Eco-cities favour public transportation, walking and cycling over car use, offer much easier access to green spaces, and are generally built to be much more environmentally friendly.
And they DON'T have to be high rise. 3 stories is more than enough.
Basically, they look far cooler places to live than our current car dominated cities. And are much better for the environment.
I want to live in one now. Anyone else?
0
Comments
Seems bizarre...
Kingston is fairly good on some environmental points... We have green boxes to recycle with, points all over the town to put cans and plastic bottles in and lots of cycle paths... Still, why some people drive around in their jeeps (why the heck do you need one in the city???) and cars and get stuck in the horrible traffic here bewilders me. Despite being better for a lot of things than where I'm originally from, Kingston still has a fairly big eco-footprint.
Nice one, it should be done... And four by fours and big cars shouldn't be allowed for commercial use either. However, maybe for people in rural areas, especially ones who are in poorer areas perhaps the government should be more lenient on... Anybody who has seen how poor public transport is in areas like North Wales will agree. :yes:
all them four b fours nop one can sell here are ending up there along with ...every other car you cvan name ...millions of 'em.
the bike is on it's way out big time.
It'll come back sooner than you think. We're going to have to face up to the fuel crisis at some stage, I see big bike and coal comebacks!
To me an eco city would ban cars entirely. (Although there'd still be some on the outskirts for driving to and from the city, and I suppose little vans or something for the movement of goods.) Only then do you get all the benefits: proper clean air, pedestrians having priority, amazing public transport etc.
And also there'd be loads more greenery. I picture an urban/countryside cross. Trees everywhere, lots of nearby farms etc. Even in the middle of the city.
There is if you want to get to work on time. And in something resembling comfort and dignity.
In the UK, unlike in the Continent, the bus companies employ scuffers and layabouts on minimum wage to drive the buses, so they never come on time because the drivers are too busy smoking at the depot, and that's if they actually give the scuffer a bus to drive in the first place. And then if the bus driven by a scuffer turns up, its full to bursting with farting sixth formers so you can't get a seat, and there's always another council estate scuffer with their mobile playing noise. And then the driver thinks he's playing Destruction Derby, so on top of all that you get the beautiful tones of some council estate scruffball leaning out of the window swearing at all at sundry, and stopping to chat with his mate coming the other way.
Needless to say, when I can afford to, I'm gonna drive. £50 a month to stand up and be sworn at by some charver cunt on minimum wage? No, ta.
Getting back to the point, bikes are great if its flat, and where its flat they're used. Most of the UK isn't flat.
Actually there have been quite a few cities that have just appeared out of nowhere. Canberra and Washington DC I believe. Brasilia for definite. And in this country? Milton Keynes. Not quite a city, but I don't think it's much smaller than say York.
In fact, I'll even give you the money if you manage to get to work by car only half an hour later than you would by public transport.
Car= not needed at all whatsoever for commuting into city centres.
Also at least in a car you can listen to your own music and not have to smell the cheap perfume and farts of a load of scabby sixth formers.
Though it is true that it's a lot nicer to be in your car by yourself than standing up for an hour with a smelly bloke inches from your face.
Up here the bus companies have free reign, and as such, all the buses are driven by illiterate Poles and scabby estate scuffers. It's like Alton Towers, only more expensive.
I'd like to see the PTEs get the same rights as Ken, and maybe then the bus would be a credible alternative. But I'm sick of having to get the bus 15 minutes before I need to because I can't trust the one I should get. I'm sick of always being either late or comically early at work.
Commuting wise, cars are a fucking menace. All they seem to do is sit in traffic jams pumping out shit (yes, I know buses can be pretty dirty) with each person taking up 4/5/6 times as much space as they need. Generally, I couldn't give a damn, because they bus has it's own lane, but walking past the traffic jam to the shop is a rather smelly experience (and I beat the cars
Maybe I'm just lucky to live in a city with reasonable public transport.
Eco cities do sound pretty cool :yippe:
Off peak it's generally quicker to drive into Central London from Amersham (last stop on the Met line..) than get the train in. And if you want to go to the city there prob isn't much in it if you drove to Liverpool Street/Bank. Other than on a Sunday though when parking isn't a prob I'd never drive into Central London but it can sometimes make sense. If Crossrail is ever built that won't be the case but will it be built in our lifetime?
The buses like the tube in London is a mixed bag. Ken has concentrated too much on buses, it's the tube that needs the most improvement - although to be fair the government should take much of the blame for not putting the proper investment in the tube and carrying on the policy of past govts of both parties - i.e. underfunding it.
I'm just in a bad mood regarding Stagecoach in Newcastle at the minute, as for the last week I have either been ten minutes late for work because the bus didn't come, or I've been 25 minutes early because I've had to get an earlier one to make sure I wasn't 10 minutes late for work. The route is supposed to have a bus every 10 minutes, but all this means is that the drivers don't bother with the timetable as it doesn't matter in their eyes. Who cares if someone is 10 minutes late for work?
And all the students for the college stink of cauliflower fart and/or cheap perfume.
Had one driver last week who cut up a whole line of traffic, and then got out of the cab to swear and shout at another driver for daring to be pissed off. At least our bus drivers speak English, though- across the river they're all Poles and Bulgarians who don't understand anything apart from "MetroCentre" and "town".
Must be a Stagecoach thing.
only if they are the old school 2CV's ones
Their trains aren't a right lot better.
Tube's either brilliant or you're delayed for hours because of signals or because the trains in front has broken down.
For the amount we pay in taxes to St Ken transport in London is shite.
Thanks to relentless fining and extensive use of CCTV cameras bus lanes are for the first time in history clear during operating hours. Only a few years ago bus lanes were largely ignored and blocked by motorists, as it had always been before.
There is a chronic underinvestment problem in public transport, though that's not something that can be blamed on Ken. The truth is a lot more money is needed before any further improvements are introduced. The government is certainly to blame for letting fucking private companies get their greedy hands into running parts of the Tube infrastructure... that makes things worse not better.
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