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Comment by schuke | Hacker News Reader

This only works if you live somewhere with a mild climate. Most places of the world it seems won't fall into this category. Summer and winter are hard. With cars where you get to set a temperature before going out, it's not just convenient, it can well be vital for seniors. Not to mention when there's rain, snow or wind. I'm all for cars. They just need to be more efficient. And it's achievable.

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I'm handicapped and have lived without a car for more than a decade, among other things.

I've studied city planning. I run r/UrbanForestry on Reddit where I talk at times about city scale passive solar design.

Middle Eastern desert cities were historically designed such that daytime street temps were bearable by design.

It's doable. We just aren't bothering.

Great post, in our city for a few years they stopped clearing side walks in the winter (dumb mayor, he didn't last).

I carried an old lady with a walker stuck in the middle of the road. It was brutal on them even with the plowing, without zero ability to move around.

I think that speaks more to environmental hostility due to social/governmental choices. The woman lost her mobility because the mayor didn’t clear the side walks. Not because of winter.

If if we designed public transportation so it was convenient and usable by everyone older people would have more options in all weather.

If we had consistent (24/7), frequent, high coverage public transportation that was subsidized at the same rate as car infrastructure, everyone would use it. If it was faster than driving in traffic rich people would use it and support it as well.

We choose to build a society that only works for a tiny segment and makes all of our own lives more difficult (and eventually impossible).

This brings up scaling up good governance and city planning (essentially politics) VS scaling up an industrial product. Democratic governments are generally much responsive to needs of minorities and disadvantaged people, yet it’s not doing particularly well in changing how cities are built. Non-democracies aren’t gonna do any better if not worse. Wouldn’t it be much easier to improve mobility by autonomous driving and improved car design?

Walking for 15-20 min in -30C is just fine with the right clothes.

It's survivable, sure. As someone who biked to work in Wisconsin winter, skis, and makes sure to get outside every day for exercise, -12 to -17 is as low as I'll go.

Which is the most pressing issue with winter weather for seniors. Injuries sustained from a fall are one of the leading reasons people are moved from an independent living situation. Losing your mobility from a fall is also a quick path towards death.

That's an example of poor walkability due to government choices.

How so? Are there many places that get -30 C and don’t have snow/ice?

No, but there are various cold countries where the government

- eagerly clears the snow

- provides capillary public transportation

- provides city-wide heating

- encourages the development of large buildings (even connected with each other) instead of isolated homes

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