This comment makes no sense in relation to this topic. This is a picture of a winter market in a German city (theoretically, I’m not verifying it but it looks legit). The size of the country as a whole or even really the population makes no difference when comparing this to the US and it’s cities. As someone who’s lived in multiple cities in both countries and visited far more, the population density is the only distinction and that can be designed for. Kansas city is urban sprawled to hell by design and Berlin isn’t all that different, except Berlin has trains galore.
Actually looking up the data on where I live right now, Mannheim, and where I just came from, Kansas City this point is easily driven home.
KC:
825 km2 area
508k people
623 people/km2 density
2.2 mil metro
Mannheim:
145 km2 area
316k people
2186 people/km2 density
2.3 metro
America is the home of the car. Germany isn’t even considered to have the best public transit and yet any country with that as a priority thrives in human centric metrics.
It was a nightmare to drive downtown in KC, find parking, visit a handful of shops, and drive home. It took time and money and was generally dangerous.
Going anywhere in the entire metropolitan area of Mannheim takes me max 30 minutes, and that’s by tram. I walk most places and that’s 1-10 mins of walking for all my needs. I can walk a block to my nearest Christmas market, 5 blocks to the next and something like 10 to the next. Nothing even remotely as communal or friendly in my suburban neighborhood in KC.
This comment makes no sense in relation to this topic. This is a picture of a winter market in a German city (theoretically, I’m not verifying it but it looks legit). The size of the country as a whole or even really the population makes no difference when comparing this to the US and it’s cities. As someone who’s lived in multiple cities in both countries and visited far more, the population density is the only distinction and that can be designed for. Kansas city is urban sprawled to hell by design and Berlin isn’t all that different, except Berlin has trains galore.
Actually looking up the data on where I live right now, Mannheim, and where I just came from, Kansas City this point is easily driven home.
KC:
Mannheim:
America is the home of the car. Germany isn’t even considered to have the best public transit and yet any country with that as a priority thrives in human centric metrics.
It was a nightmare to drive downtown in KC, find parking, visit a handful of shops, and drive home. It took time and money and was generally dangerous.
Going anywhere in the entire metropolitan area of Mannheim takes me max 30 minutes, and that’s by tram. I walk most places and that’s 1-10 mins of walking for all my needs. I can walk a block to my nearest Christmas market, 5 blocks to the next and something like 10 to the next. Nothing even remotely as communal or friendly in my suburban neighborhood in KC.