One should also consider the social aspects of converting inner city office space to residential use. There was an article in the Australian Newspaper, owned by the Murdoch family who you will be familiar with, no doubt because articles about his relinquishment of his chairmanship of his media companies this week.
The subject of the article was the high resignation rate amongst teachers due to the increasing difficulty of maintaining discipline in schools, and particularly since the advent of Covid. This is apparently a hot topic that elicited more than 500 comments. Many suggested that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. Some teachers were of the opinion that the trend to consider that a child may have been misbehaving because the lesson wasn't meeting their needs put the blame back on the teacher making his position untenable. As a former teacher who left after 10 years, I know the feeling. However, I had a different point of view that is encapsulated in the comment that I have repeated below. Its relevant to the decision as to whether its desirable to build high rise residential buildings or whether it's better to start afresh and better meet the needs of children.
One thing that you point out is relevant is also the question of online shopping and home delivery. That would assist to achieve the ends that I have in mind. Below is the comment:
Birth rate has fallen below replacement levels. Australia is not a child friendly place. Too much pressure on the nuclear family. 77% of urban dwellers report that they don't know the name of the people next door.
In 1908 a basic wage was sufficient to support a stay-at-home wife and three children. The streets were full of pedestrians and kids, not cars. Today two incomes are required to take on a mortgage. No back yards because blocks are small. Children can't play in the street because it's too dangerous. For preschoolers, lack of green space and the lack of opportunity to interact with children their own age gives rise to maladaptive behavior. Add screen time.
Our town planning regime should allow 'build to rent' without subdivision in relatively self-sufficient village sized communities. Cars should be garaged remotely. This would enable a return to pedestrian and child friendly environments where parents and grandparents can combine work with looking after their children. The shophouse form that combines living upstairs with work downstairs is appropriate. The village should provide for home, work, recreation, shopping, child-care, school, communal gardens and nature conservation. There would be less need for a car.
This would reduce travel time and give more time for dads to play with their kids. It relieves the family of the burden of a mortgage, improves labour mobility, better enables people to reach their potential or develop a side hustle and will therefore promote an entrepreneurial culture. If the schoolrooms are scattered about the community in the ground floor sections of houses people can learn to be teachers in the classroom. There is no better way. Kids will find mentors in the local community taking pressure off the nuclear family.
Our cities are just too big. and too hard to change.
I went from teaching to farming. Just let farmers build houses to rent on rural land. Let us get on with it. I write about this at erlhapp.substack.com.
I enjoyed the read Ben. Nice to be in touch.
One should also consider the social aspects of converting inner city office space to residential use. There was an article in the Australian Newspaper, owned by the Murdoch family who you will be familiar with, no doubt because articles about his relinquishment of his chairmanship of his media companies this week.
The subject of the article was the high resignation rate amongst teachers due to the increasing difficulty of maintaining discipline in schools, and particularly since the advent of Covid. This is apparently a hot topic that elicited more than 500 comments. Many suggested that to spare the rod is to spoil the child. Some teachers were of the opinion that the trend to consider that a child may have been misbehaving because the lesson wasn't meeting their needs put the blame back on the teacher making his position untenable. As a former teacher who left after 10 years, I know the feeling. However, I had a different point of view that is encapsulated in the comment that I have repeated below. Its relevant to the decision as to whether its desirable to build high rise residential buildings or whether it's better to start afresh and better meet the needs of children.
One thing that you point out is relevant is also the question of online shopping and home delivery. That would assist to achieve the ends that I have in mind. Below is the comment:
Birth rate has fallen below replacement levels. Australia is not a child friendly place. Too much pressure on the nuclear family. 77% of urban dwellers report that they don't know the name of the people next door.
In 1908 a basic wage was sufficient to support a stay-at-home wife and three children. The streets were full of pedestrians and kids, not cars. Today two incomes are required to take on a mortgage. No back yards because blocks are small. Children can't play in the street because it's too dangerous. For preschoolers, lack of green space and the lack of opportunity to interact with children their own age gives rise to maladaptive behavior. Add screen time.
Our town planning regime should allow 'build to rent' without subdivision in relatively self-sufficient village sized communities. Cars should be garaged remotely. This would enable a return to pedestrian and child friendly environments where parents and grandparents can combine work with looking after their children. The shophouse form that combines living upstairs with work downstairs is appropriate. The village should provide for home, work, recreation, shopping, child-care, school, communal gardens and nature conservation. There would be less need for a car.
This would reduce travel time and give more time for dads to play with their kids. It relieves the family of the burden of a mortgage, improves labour mobility, better enables people to reach their potential or develop a side hustle and will therefore promote an entrepreneurial culture. If the schoolrooms are scattered about the community in the ground floor sections of houses people can learn to be teachers in the classroom. There is no better way. Kids will find mentors in the local community taking pressure off the nuclear family.
Our cities are just too big. and too hard to change.
I went from teaching to farming. Just let farmers build houses to rent on rural land. Let us get on with it. I write about this at erlhapp.substack.com.