The best of both are small towns along railways, with a dense core with some amenities surrounded by decreasing density until it quickly becomes pure countryside, and thanks to the station it's easy to get to and from the big city.

And if you only want rural surroundings you can have train halts basically in the middle of nowhere, there's a couple like that in my region and it's absolutely delightful.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Oh my fuck that sounds so cool. I think youre right. Trains, as always, are key.

[–] PiJiNWiNg 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

So do you put a population limit on small towns? How do you think major Metropolitan areas got started? They didn't just appear one day, they grew over time from small port and station towns...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago (2 children)

huh? why would suburbs magically be exempt from that idea?

Yes, places grow, this is why it's important to apply good urban planning and use as much high density housing as possible, otherwise you get the miserable car-dependent sprawl we see in america and much of the rest of the world.

By centering around transit stops you get rid of the need for all the parking and roads that takes a ton of space (which lets urban areas be smaller while containing the same amount of living space), and by having many small towns with high density centers spread out like this you maximize how many people can live close to the countryside.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

many small towns with high density centers

This is a perfect description of the Netherlands

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

and surprise surprise the netherlands is really nice

[–] PiJiNWiNg 1 points 4 months ago

My point is that what you described is basically a city with suburbs on a reduced scale. If a town is nice and successful, you're gonna have people that want to move there, so your options are to build outward, upward, or not at all. It sounds like you'd prefer towns build upward rather than outward, which is obviously valid, but it's a matter of preference. People who don't mind living in an apartment will move into the city center, people who value space over commute will move to the suburbs.

Where I think things get turned around (in the states anyway), is the lack of community-run programs and local business owners. Community gardens, neighborhood solar cells, locally owned farms, grocers, and corner stores are all things I'd like to see way more of in suburban areas.