I've become disillusioned with the Not Just Bikes guy. He tends to omit key disadvantages of the lifestyle he's advertising.
Take for example buying groceries in your corner shop daily on your way back from work. Easily 50% more expensive than taking a longer, less frequent trip to a larger supermarket further away.
But what upset me the most was showcasing a building built somewhere in Canada that was, in his view, great because it didn't have parking spaces.
What actually happened is that the building rented-out parking spots from a nearby multi-level parking lot and was only allowed to be built as an exception, because it was too tall according to the zoning. And it shows, because it stands out like a buck tooth.
I live in a country essentially taken over by construction companies' interests and this is the kind of bullshit they peddle to improve their margins.
As for buying for the corner shop being 50% more expensive, why? What are you basing yourself on to make that assertion?
I see this as a perspective of someone who never lived in a walkable city that has both zoning and parking minimums. It's not a case of either-or.
The type of construction he's proposing is a net negative to how a city functions - specifically it was a particularly tall building in an area where four floors + ground level buildings were already allowed - that's an already appropriate density for a city.
> What are you basing yourself on to make that assertion?
That's my experience from just about every European city I spent any appreciable time in(meaning - at least a few months) - especially the one I grew up in.
And no wonder - grocery stores scale exceedingly well so far as there's cheap land to build on. That's not the case in city centres.
Sure, I'd love to see how prices in small shop chain retailers compare to big box chain retailers. But sorry, your personal gut feeling is not data enough for me.
As for walkable cities with zoning and parking minimums, perhaps it can technically be done? But you do agree that it makes it extremely difficult and disincentivised, right?
I don't know about the building you're talking about and can't weigh in on this.
I had friends who, in order to save money, went by bus, did shopping for the whole week and just Ubered back, because even compared to a local Lidl it was worth it. Of course it was a major time sink, but spread over a week didn't affect them too much.
My personal record was in Zurich, where I had a whopping 3.6km to the next Lidl, from which I only returned by bus, because those ~4CHF saved on the ticket there afforded me 1kg of bananas(2CHF instead of 3 in Coop) and a can of tuna.
This is the type of reality I'm talking about - note the lack of cars in these scenarios.
I wish I could find the clip showing the mentioned building, but a cursory search didn't yield results.
By bicyle, 3.6 km would take 10-15 min without riding hard.