I said You mean the rich, temperate parts of Western Europe, most of which could fit inside Texas? Sure.
You said I live in Norway, in a city of 180-200k people. Folks use public transportation or walking all the time. With children. For everyday food shopping.
Is Norway not one of the richest WE countries? (Not temperate though, fair enough.)
The country has a very high standard of living compared with other European countries...
According to United Nations data for 2016, Norway together with Luxembourg and Switzerland are the only three countries in the world with a GDP per capita above US$70,000 that are not island nations nor microstates.[18]
Yes... yes it is. It also has a bit over 5 million people, with about a million Living in Oslo, or 1.5 million if you go for the whole metro area. That’s great, but doesn’t have much to do with most other cities on Earth in terms of population density, population as a fraction of the country’s total population, and wealth. For example NYC has a population density of about 27,000 per square mile, and Oslo has about 8500. How does street crime compare between a major American city and Oslo?
Sadly, the diversity of cultures, politics, and incomes which define a city like NYC also make it hard to just say “let’s have a better environment for bikes!” I’m. It sure how you’d go about changing that, but I’m pretty sure articles like this and comments about Norway may not inckude realistic solutions. If I lived in Oslo, I’d bike a lot too, but if I lived in NYC I wouldn’t because I like living. Public transportation in the states varies massively, but either way simply saying “fix it” without a concrete way to make it happen in the real world of vested interests, cultures, and politics is sort of pointless.
They aren't poor, no, but it isn't temperate and that was the point I was getting at. Cold doesn't make things impossible by any means even if folks in the states act like it does, at least where I was.
I've never lived in NYC. I spent the first 35 years of life in Indiana, though, in towns smaller than this. The crime wasn't bad. One place even happened to have bus service. Indiana has about the same population as Norway over less land area, though admittedly it likely isn't as rich. Indianapolis is probably the only place comparable to Oslo as I can't remember how big Ft Wayne is.
Large cities aside, it doesn't take much to make a city walkable. Put sidewalks in, zone correctly, and put up areas to lock up bikes. If we can require places to have a minimum amount of parking spaces, what is so difficult to require a place to park bicycles? If you can zone for different things, wouldn't it be possible to zone for grocery stores near neighborhoods and give tax breaks to those chains instead of large box stores?
Concrete "fixing" does require some regional specialization, and I'm sure one solution isn't going to work for everywhere. Most cities aren't NYC, though.
Edit: I should also mention that part of the trend here is to make it more inconvenient to drive in town. They are actively taking away driving lanes to encourage walking and public transport. Most of the smaller cities in Indiana could do some of this as well.
I've been to Ft.Wayne. It's about 250,000. They actually had a bus (i rode it), it didn't come very often, and wasn't at all wheelchair accessible. I live in a similar size city in Canada. Bus system is miles better, and it still doesn't compare to the infrastructure they have in place in Europe, even for smaller cities in Northern climates like Helsinki.
Don't know why that person was going on about it only being temperate places, then comparing to New York, which has to be one of the richest places on earth.
You said I live in Norway, in a city of 180-200k people. Folks use public transportation or walking all the time. With children. For everyday food shopping.
Is Norway not one of the richest WE countries? (Not temperate though, fair enough.)
The country has a very high standard of living compared with other European countries...
According to United Nations data for 2016, Norway together with Luxembourg and Switzerland are the only three countries in the world with a GDP per capita above US$70,000 that are not island nations nor microstates.[18]
Yes... yes it is. It also has a bit over 5 million people, with about a million Living in Oslo, or 1.5 million if you go for the whole metro area. That’s great, but doesn’t have much to do with most other cities on Earth in terms of population density, population as a fraction of the country’s total population, and wealth. For example NYC has a population density of about 27,000 per square mile, and Oslo has about 8500. How does street crime compare between a major American city and Oslo?
Sadly, the diversity of cultures, politics, and incomes which define a city like NYC also make it hard to just say “let’s have a better environment for bikes!” I’m. It sure how you’d go about changing that, but I’m pretty sure articles like this and comments about Norway may not inckude realistic solutions. If I lived in Oslo, I’d bike a lot too, but if I lived in NYC I wouldn’t because I like living. Public transportation in the states varies massively, but either way simply saying “fix it” without a concrete way to make it happen in the real world of vested interests, cultures, and politics is sort of pointless.