Lisbon’s main plaza was a parking lot from the 1950s to 1997…
Same place today, for anyone else curious
A good start, but Jesus, why haven’t they planted any trees?
I grew up in a town in Ohio where the famous abolitionist John Brown (hanged in 1859 after his abortive raid on Harpers Ferry) had built a tannery in the 1840s that was still standing in 1976. To celebrate the bicentennial, the city council had it condemned and torn down, to make way for … a parking lot. Hilariously, the council claimed it was a danger because it was about to collapse, but it took three days to demolish and they had to bring in special heavy equipment to do it after their wrecking balls failed to make a dent in it. This thing had been built with massive 40-foot long oak beams with 12"x8" cross-sections that showed no signs of rot (my dad salvaged a piece of one of these beams and set it up as a bench in our garden, and it was still in good shape in 2012 despite being outside the whole time), so it could have easily been preserved as a historical site. In fact it had been declared an official historical site by the state just days before its destruction but the town council simply ignored that.
What a waste
So who here has actually been to Würzburg and who’s simply parroting the community motto?
went today. the rest of the inner city is great and walkable. but this is still an eyesore and made me think of this community right away
The Residence is a wonderful place to tour. I highly recommend it. The little cafe on the right side is pretty decent too.
Würzburg Residence?
Würzburg Residence.
yep
Diese alten Kästen da in Hintergrund könnte man ja auch noch planieren und statt dessen mehr Parkplätze bauen!
Don’t it always seem to go…
Markets? Events? Pop up cafes?
Naaaah. Parking!
Here in the towns around a lot of these parking lots are also used for those. The parking is open for cars when not used for other things. A sign Warns when parking is not allowed when market is setup. And other days the parking is closed off. The rest of the time it can be used for parking. I thinks that’s at least good use of the space.
They can still do those things with that space.
Ironically, it’s always the local businesses that rabidly defend giving everything over to parking spaces. At this point I’ve given up on inner cities in Germany. They’re dying and those idiots are speeding up their own demise because they’re completely unwilling to even consider any alternative.
Here in Helsinki I’ve been seeing some local resurants converting the parking spots up front into patio space for the summer.
Once it was clear they could choose between two parked cars, or four more tables for customers, a lot seem to be picking the latter.
I’m often impressed with Finland. The attitudes and decision making the nation expresses are often very grounded and data driven.
The trams in Helsinki were also phenomenal. I loved getting around town so easily.
Won’t anyone think of the poor suburbanites? These walkable cities are so hostile to them, where can they park their chevy suburban megacab ultrawide edition?
Even worse, this is in Würzburg, so in Germany. We don’t even have suburban areas as bad as the USA. In fact, to the left of the picture is a sign for a public transport stop. Still, Germany is strongly controlled by the car lobby.
Not as bad as the US isn’t saying much. I just looked at an aerial image and there’s still a fair bit of sprawl around the city center.
Yeah and carbrain is pretty widespread. Im also surprised how many people who mainly use their car have absolutely no idea about the 49€ ticket, despite it making international headlines every now and then.
Our family visited Germany this past summer. I really wanted to get the 49€ tickets, but the system to buy them is cumbersome and we weren’t around that long.
Now, we did have a visit in summer 2002. We still have our 9€ tickets from that trip. It was a wonder to be able to get around so cheaply.
sharing transport with the public is eww!
