City planning
NOTE: HAVE ALREADY MADE politics-city.md IN COMMONPLACE
Bollards: Why and What | Hacker News Bollards: Why & What · Josh Thompson
Road resurfacing during the daytime without stopping traffic | Hacker News ASTRA Bridge Deckbelagsarbeiten – YouTube
In Colorado, an ambitious new highway policy is not building them | Hacker News In Colorado, an Ambitious New Highway Policy Is Not Building Them – The New York Times
Cities need more trees | Hacker News Cities need more trees | ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Herman’s blog
Architectural cross-section of Kowloon Walled City | Hacker News cohost! – “Architectural Cross-Section of Kowloon Walled City”
Allan Richarz (2018) The Amazing Psychology of Japanese Train Stations
If we want a shift to walking, we need to prioritize dignity | Hacker News If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need To Prioritize Dignity
Code of conduct
15 Rules From the Hobo Ethical Code of 1889 | Mental Floss
The 10 Principles of Burning Man | Burning Man
decay
The Catalogue of UK Entrances to Hell (2002) | Hacker News
The catalogue of UK Entrances to Hell
Visiting Scarfolk, the most spectacular dystopia of the 1970s (2016) | Hacker News
Visiting Scarfolk, the Most Spectacular Dystopia of the 1970s | Collectors Weekly
Constitution (hillsdale)
A nation should be made by its people
That nation must have the flexibility to be altered based on the peoples’ wishes
Any official should always be subordinate to Laws
- the Law is, therefore, what all people are bound under
- this means EVERYONE conforms to that set of laws
- to maintain that mechanism, we need a basis for those laws, which is the requirement of keeping God
- in the absence of God, the laws have no precedent that binds them beyond individuals’ interests
The entire thing is built on honor and trust
- everyone has to be bound together, since that shared sense of [identity] is mandatory to fight against just about every possible risk
the basis of the Constitution is framed inside the Declaration of Independence:
- all men are created equal, specifically in that God gave them certain permanent rights
- God provides everything
- God knows what we intend and judges our hearts
the king is trying to be all 3 branches of the matter, and the government is merely responsible to administrate under God
- the rights are to be maintained by Congress
- the Administration is to be an instrument of God to provide for what it has power to give
- the Judiciary is to find out what people intend, to the best of its ability
there are certain inalienable rights everyone has:
- life
- liberty
- pursuit of meaning/happiness
the purpose of the government is to secure and maintain those rights
- the first round was way too weak (articles of confederation)
- the second time gave more centralized power
The people have to [consent] that they’re being governed
- this is hairy, since there’s a rebellious streak in people
- the number one way they’ll be okay with being governed is if they feel they’ve been sufficiently represented
- if they’re unwilling to be governed, the system must allow for them to opt out
- the majority, therefore, are considered sovereign, and they therefore represent the most power (and also are the most dangerous)
- since they’re so dangerous, the majority of people MUST be virtuous
it also means that there will certainly be disagreements, and the best resolution is through voting
- everyone WILL disagree and have [conflicts], and those conflicts are a sign of health
the idea is that there’s a spread-apart system
- it takes 6 years to completely change over a political party
- elections are designed to be cumbersome and slow, which helps prevent corruption
one weird basis for the US’ founding was that George Washington did NOT grab power
- he basically didn’t want to be seen as an aristocrat, so he declined joining a Cincinnatus society (Cincinnatus was a general who went back to farming after the war was over in the 5th century BC)
to keep representation, there MUST be a division of powers
- this means that many people run it across many domains
- this division of power is only maintained by intentionally peaceful transitions of power
- that peace requires civility on everyone’s side:
- the departing group must give over power entirely
- the entering group must be given power entirely
- this must revolve back later entirely when the change happens again
any administrative maintaining of power (e.g., government bureaus) that persists must be subordinate to that new power as well
- once a government gets big enough, it will NOT honor this situation
there is a major shift that creates a large administrative state in defiance of a core constitution
- most laws are made, enforced, and adjudicated by regulatory agencies, NOT by Congress and the Judiciary
the country also needs [economic] power through maintaining a currency
- money is an invariable reality of human nature
- maintaining good money supply is necessary
Article 1 – Congressional Power
Article 2 – Presidential Power
Legal framework
How to Start a New Country • The Network State
The man who bought Pine Bluff, Arkansas (2022) | Hacker News
The man who bought Pine Bluff, Arkansas – by Max Read
MTA board votes to approve new $15 toll to drive into Manhattan | Hacker News
NYC Congestion Pricing and Tolls: What to Know and What’s Next – The New York Times
California Approves Waymo Expansion to Los Angeles and SF Peninsula [pdf] | Hacker News
Waymo AL 2 Disposition Letter 20240301_signed.pdf
How to make a city
Cancel Zoning If we want to fix the housing-affordability crisis zoning must go | Hacker News
How Zoning Broke the American City – The Atlantic
If we want a shift to walking we need to prioritize dignity | Hacker News
If We Want a Shift to Walking, We Need to Prioritize Dignity – Streets.mn
Boston mayor announces residential conversion program for office buildings | Hacker News
Mayor Wu announces Residential Conversion Program for downtown offices | Boston Planning & Development Agency
Bikes, not self driving cars, are the technological gateway to urban progress | Hacker News
Bikes, Not Self Driving Cars, Are The Technological Gateway To Urban Progress
Cities Aren’t Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) | Hacker News
Cities Aren’t Loud: Cars Are Loud – YouTube
Sao Paulo: A city with no outdoor advertisements (2013) | Hacker News
Sao Paulo: The City With No Outdoor Advertisements | Amusing Planet
The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds | Hacker News
At least 1,000 birds died from colliding with one Chicago building in one day | Chicago | The Guardian
Nakatomi Space | Hacker News
Nakatomi Space – BLDGBLOG
Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically | Hacker News
Spain lives in flats: why we have built our cities vertically
To revive Portland, officials seek to ban public drug use | Hacker News
To Revive Portland, Officials Seek to Ban Public Drug Use – The New York Times
- MAKE YOUR RULES, BUT MAKE SURE YOU DON’T CHANGE THEM LATER THAT MUCH!
- TOO PROGRESSIVE, AND NOBODY WILL TRUST YOU
Nation
Notes on Tajikistan | Hacker News
Notes on Tajikistan – Matt Lakeman
Public works
Botanical gardens can cool city air by an average of 5°C | Hacker News
Botanical gardens can cool city air by an average of 5 °C
Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing | Hacker News
Paris Preserves Its Mixed Society by Pouring Billions Into Public Housing – The New York Times
Repurposing old elements
Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees | Hacker News
Tear up unused parking lots, plant trees – Dan Rodricks
Repurposing shopping malls | WORLD
Can turning office towers into apartments save downtowns? | Hacker News
Can Turning Office Towers Into Apartments Save Downtowns? | The New Yorker
one of the key questions that is the most difficult to solve:
- what do you do when there are less people willing to do the necessary work than the work requires?
- there will always be more people who want to NOT do that work than the necessary amount of work
- it boils down to several options:
- force them to do the work randomly (e.g., at gunpoint, [slavery])
- get others to do the work
- pay them more (and therefore [economically] incentivize them with the risk that you’re overpaying them for the task relative to a [free market])
- force the ones who do wrongly to do the work (e.g., prisoners)
- blame others when the work doesn’t get done (i.e., politicians)
- NOTE: NEED MORE