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No parking
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Single-stair buildings
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A street width most fire departments wouldn’t allow
This is just grandfathered in. There are just as many shit regulations in europe if not more.
The fire safety is bad but maybe the brick buildings make it less of a risk?
I have heard that US buildings are more flammable than those in Europe. Not sure about these ones in particular.
If you really want to you can too figure out a way to burn bricks LOL.
Everything burns at some temperature.
Go to any image search and you will find dozens of pictures from Melbourne, Australia of outdoor dining in car free laneways (alleys) though with proper pedestrial access and accessibility. Imagine trying to get through that place in a wheelchair. There is a market for car free spaces anywhere in the world, even in car cultures like Australia. Given an opportunity people vote with their wallets on these things.
Focusing on medieval streets reinforces the idea that modern cities can not have nice places. They often have lots of great spaces which are under utilized or used poorly. Pedestrianizing those under utilized spaces like alleys can revitalize a local economy.
I’m super anti-car. But the other 2 points are legitimate issues. Y a kitchen caught for you need multiple paths out and the ability for a crew to get to the scene. This street would still be charming of it was a few feet wider and wasn’t a death trap lol
Looks like a nightmare for many wheelchair users.
Well they don’t have that many to be such a problem. Nobody shoots each other and they don’t send any young adult to be blown up in middle east for oil. Also easier to keep fit and healthy as food is not engineered to be addictive
One of the few things I, as an American, feel comfortable making fun of Europeans about is how inadequate their ada accessibility is.
This is ableism
They have plenty of wheelchair users, you just don’t see them because it’s so inaccessible they’re stuck at home.
THIS holy shit this
Do you think that the only people that use wheelchairs got there because of gun violence, bombs in the middle east, and health issues related to less healthy food?
I’m pretty sure it’s the stone buildings and street that make it charming. Three feet (one metre) of additional width would not remove the charm and emergency vehicles do not need access to pedestrian malls in the US.
The only thing stopping an American developer from building this in the US is cost. We don’t depreciate buildings over centuries, and neither do the Spanish. New developments in Spain look nothing like this.
TBF the street width probably wouldn’t be legal in Spain, either, if it was built this century. Europe doesn’t build like this anymore.
How does one take a pleasant photo like this and use it to bitch about cars?
There’s plenty of reasons to bitch about cars. And, the Internet is full of photos of the shitty environment created by cars. This photo doesn’t have to be one of them and it’s fucking stretch to make it about cars.
It’s not even as though cars are the fundamental issue here as to why this sort of space doesn’t exist in the usa
Because I want us to build things like this again. I live in Canada and we don’t have even remotely as many old town areas that offer people-scale streets. I don’t know where you live but maybe you live in a much older city so scenes like this are commonplace but they’re non existent here outside of maybe Québec City.
Obviously this community is (with all due respect) an echo chamber so it’s preaching to the choir but I still think it’s important to be reminded of what we could have.
This particular picture presents multiple safety and accessibility issues. Quaint, car free boardwalks are great, but this is too narrow for many reasons.
Did you even read OP’s supercomment?
Don’t they have that type of thing inside shopping centres and places like that?
Ya looks super safe boss! I’m sure everyone would be able to do a nice orderly exit in an emergency!
Where do I park my car?
That’s the neat part, you don’t
It doesn’t look like a drive-trough either.
in the ocean
No no. The whole car. Not just the battery
How does no parking make this spot charming? What does single-stair mean? Single as opposed to what?
Edit: Right, I see people are sensitive about this and not understanding is illegal. If you’re interested, this looks incredibly normal to me, and I assume there will be some spots for parking around a corner somewhere. It’s also outside so I don’t know what the number of stairs of surrounding buildings has to do with anything. But alright.
How does no parking make this spot charming?
Because if there were parking there, it would not be charming.
Wouldn’t be nearly as charming if there were cars parked right next to your table, with those cars presumably coming and going all the time.
I suspect there is parking just around the corner somewhere and that’s fine.
I assume OP means as opposed to having a ramp or elevator.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is something I consider a major achievement of this country, and I don’t even have a physical disability like that.
It’s a level of compassion for fellow humans that seems like it will never happen again and is likely to be destroyed by the supreme court any day now.
Ramps benefit all of us, they’re not just for wheelchairs. Have you ever had to push around a moving cart or a stroller? You don’t need a disability, you’ll still really appreciate the ramps!
A lot of those buildings have those small wheelchair lifts on the stairs. Single stair probably refers to a single stair well.
If the US is like Canada then its probably referring to the fire code that requires there be two stairwells for anything above a few floors tall. It’s an outdated code that is the reason three bedroom apartments are rare
This is a good video on the topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRdwXQb7CfM
more than one set of stairs, or at least one plus fire escapes, for emergency egress.
Interesting, single-stair is still the standard for most residential buildings in Europe. I assume it’s just not that much of an issue if the building is only 5 stories high.
Fuck you can’t be serious
